Diga ao Falante pelos Mortos
by Yun Daragon
Summary: What would have happened if...Anakin HADN'T taken off his helmet before getting off the Death Star 2? He would have lived...Probably...just as long as the rest of the galaxy doesn't try wiping out the exsith lord first...
1. Ichiban: Number One

And now that I've gotten my authoress-legs, it's time for my very first major fic.

Warning, this story is very much A/U...for those of you that couldn't already tell.

I do not own Star Wars in any way, shape or form...

And, Begin!

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He woke up.

At first, he couldn't recall what he'd been doing, or even where he was. It felt like he'd been on one of those 'all-nighter' thingys that he'd seen the out-of-work freighter pilots back in Mos Espa having. Going out drinking all night, and passing out Force-knew where…Obi-wan was going to kill him for sure now -

Wait. That wasn't right. And why did his body feel so sluggish and heavy? Was he wearing armor? And was that a helmet on his head?

And what was that weird high-pitched noise? Sounded like somebody's respirator had gone on the fritz…

Detail took that moment to slam into his brain all at once. Nausea and bile fought for control of his digestive system as Anakin Skywalker re-registered the fact he'd spent the last two decades as Darth Vader, Dark Lord of the Sith.

Anakin suppressed both - neither being that good a plan with the facemask on - and instead concentrated on figuring out where he was.

He remembered…Palpatine! He'd thrown Palpatine over the railing…that was the first clear memory. The memories of his time as Vader were strangely murky currently, which actually suited Anakin just fine. And he'd finally killed the Emperor because…because Palpatine had been killing Luke.

Luke! Even after all this, the idea of him having a son was a little scary. Padme had hidden him…and oh wait, a twin sister? Vader's memory was so damned hard to navigate, extremely blurry.

Anakin briefly wondered who Luke's twin sister was. Probably someone with a close resemblance to Padme…Force, he missed her…and the girl was probably someone just as stubborn as he himself was…

…And so she couldn't be anybody but the Alderaanian Princess, Leia Organa.

Sithspit! He'd tortured his own daughter, nearly to the death! So much for the family reunion…now Anakin really wanted to die. It would be so much simpler than facing down a girl with the brains of Padme and his own boulder-headed way of using them. She'd probably never forgive him for the rest of her life…at the very least.

--

Speaking of which…why was he still alive anyway? When he…when Vader…when he had been dueling Luke, Luke had managed to toss him around pretty easily. As a matter of fact, one of his hands was missing! Well, that was the one he'd lost before the Clone Wars, so that was okay. Just so long as it stopped happening. Anakin Skywalker had lost enough of his major body parts for one lifetime, thank you!

Anakin realized that his thoughts were babbling, his mind seemingly unable to fully concentrate on any one train of thought. That was a sign of shock…and that lightheadedness was probably a result of the damaged respirator. Anakin was probably lucky he was conscious.

And that lead him back to his original question…where was he? The last place he remembered being was on the Second Death Star. And where was Luke? Had the Alliance destroyed the Second Death Star? Was a gang of Red Guards approaching to slay the one who had killed their master? Ah, there he went again with the mindless brain-buzzing.

'_Just use the Force, stupid_,' he told himself before doing just that.

He'd been weaker than he'd first thought…it was extremely hard to tap into the Force. And it probably didn't help that Anakin was out of practice dealing with the Light Side.

The amount of sensing he was currently able to do…was the equivalent of floating in a lightless room, whose size you had no way of knowing…and flinging oneself out with eyes closed to try and find the ground. And the thing you were flinging out was actually a thin piece of cable you were holding with your teeth.

He thought he felt something…before Anakin could relocate it, the thing he'd felt brushed him back. Curiosity and worry and - Luke! It was a tired, injured, and yet still-feeling-extremely-pleased-with-himself Jedi Knight Luke Skywalker.

Luke's presence brushed slightly more forcibly against his own. Anakin, still rusty with this sort of communication, tried to reassure his son that he wasn't going to die…at least not yet. While most of his armor's systems were shot, the ones controlling his air supply worked well enough for Anakin to continue living. The reason he felt numb and heavy was because the suit had closed off a lot of his nerve endings due to them becoming overloaded…Anakin tried not to think about that. He instead tried to ask where they were right now.

In reply, Luke send a series of pictures and words, most of which Anakin missed.

_/Shuttle - destroyed - Endor - Medical - get help for you, Father./_

Like piloting a Racing Pod, mind-to-mind talk was something you never really forgot how to do. Still very weak, Anakin sent another inquiry. Although he probably deserved to be shot, that would probably devastate his son, so Anakin had decided to avoid it if that was possible. Even though Darth Vader's helmet was probably on the top of the Alliance's 'Blast on sight' list.

/Won't let that happen - Mon Mothma - she'll understand/ came the scattered response.

Anakin let his son feel his skepticism before relaxing his Force senses. It was still enough to let Anakin monitor what was going on through Luke's senses - albeit just a little and only with Luke's permission - but it was much less of a strain on him. His head hurt from what he'd done already.

He remembered Mon Mothma from the senate. Hopefully, she would be reasonable, as Luke thought. Luke was a good judge of character, after all - he'd pegged his own Father down well enough, and that was after said parent had chopped off one of his hands! Padme's level head was definitely in there.

Anakin waited while Luke landed their shuttle in one of the Rebel ships, and sent a page to Mon Mothma, asking her to come as soon as she could.

Were the positions reversed, Anakin would have just as soon left the ship and headed to wherever Mon Mothma was - ah, and he could just hear Obi-wan Kenobi now, going on and on about how Anakin, I _know_ you've got a good head on your shoulders, and I wish to the Force you would just try to use it more often, for heavens sake! And so on.

No wonder Obi-wan had looked so old when they'd fought - after having a block-head like Anakin for a Padawan Learner, and for ten years, well, who wouldn't look like that?

…Come to think of it, he was still officially a Padawan Learner, wasn't he?

--  
"Commander Skywalker?"

Voices were coming from outside the shuttle…Luke left off gripping Anakin's shoulder as he went over to the ramp to answer. After only that short distance, Anakin's read on Luke fizzled to just knowing if the boy was alive or not. It didn't help anything that the optics in the faceplate had long since automatically shut down to protect the delicate wiring, so that he was for all purposes blind to boot.

And while all of this should have rightly sent Anakin into a blaze of indigent fury, he didn't feel any real anger or even irritation. Anakin's mind mostly felt numb, in a way that had nothing to do with the circuitry in his suit.

Maybe he was in deeper shock than he thought.

At least Anakin was aware enough to notice that two people had entered behind his son. And that they both froze in their tracks when they noticed him. Maybe Anakin should have left off that strangling people thing…Darth Vader's trademark brutality was going to get Anakin Skywalker placed in front of a firing squad.

"Commander Skywalker…"

Male…sounded familiar…someone raised on Coruscant, at the least, although Anakin had no clue who that was.

"This is the 'defector' you mentioned, Commander Skywalker?"

Female…so that one had to be Mon Mothma. Hmm, he was a 'defector' now? Made sense…sounded better than 'traitor', anyway.

"Yes," Luke said, his voice holding the faintest tinge of defiance, "I know a lot of people, probably including the entire command staff, are not going to react well to," A hesitation, "To Darth Vader suddenly appearing in their midst. That's why I wanted to talk to you first. Ma'am."

"I can understand your caution," went the male voice, "But how can we be certain his 'defection' is not a plot of some kind to destroy us? What has he offered in exchange for joining the Rebellion?"

"Well, General Madine, you see…"

Back up - _Madine_? Crix Madine? So this is where the defector Madine had ended up! Anakin actually felt impressed.

Madine must have planned the sabotage of the Endor shield generator…that sort of thing was the man's specialty…no wonder Palpatine's carefully orchestrated plan had failed. Palpatine had thought the traitor was dead, or at least on the wrong side of the galaxy by now. Madine was one of the few people that Palpatine had actually personally set a bounty on…although that was all moot now that Palpatine was dead.

Meanwhile, Anakin could sense - even with his own vague, weakened Force perceptions - that Madine had mentally reset Darth Vader from 'defector' to 'possible kidnapee'. Mon Mothma probably just considered him a prisoner.

"Well, for whatever reason, he's here now," Madine said, relieving Luke of a confusing explanation, "Even if he's genuinely changed sides, the security implications to this are staggering. We'll need to be on the lookout more than ever, since Imperial Forces might attempt to 'rescue' him."

'Hardly,' Anakin thought to himself scornfully, 'They're too damned scared of Darth Vader to come 'save' him. At most, they'll try to kill me for knocking off Palpatine…or to keep me from taking over where he left off.'

Luke had heard that - Anakin could feel it when Luke's hand tightened its grip on his shoulder. The suit was letting more of his nervous system function again.

"Is he conscious?" Mon Mothma inquired out of the blue, "Can he hear us?"

"Yes," Luke admitted.

"Can he speak?" Madine inquired next, "It would be helpful if we heard things from his own mouth."

_/Do you think you can you talk, Father?/_ Luke inquired mentally.

In reply, Anakin angled his head to where the voices were coming from - the now-aware nerve endings barely allowed that slight movement - and attempted to speak. The voice box made a peculiar noise before resetting. Anakin tried again.

"I can speak - somewhat," he said, speaking as softly as the voice box would modulate to, which wasn't much.

Speaking took more air then just lying there. There would be conspicuous pauses while he gasped for air, since the respirator was damaged. It was infinitely better to whisper.

"Lord Vader," Madine said briskly, going straight to the point, "Why should we trust you not to return to the Empire?"

"Because," Anakin said calmly, "I killed - Palpatine."

"The Emperor? He died when the Death Star blew up," Mon Mothma said.

"No," Anakin corrected, "Palpatine - died earlier. I threw him - down the shaft."

"I was there, I saw it," Luke was quick to add.

"I see," Mon Mothma said slowly.

The hidden relief coming off both her and Madine seemed as thick as the air outside the helmet that kept Anakin alive. Mon Mothma was a pacifist-gone-military leader…Madine must have been suffering from old loyalty pains. Only to find out that neither of them had killed Palpatine after all. The universe was weird like that.

"…Lord Vader," Mon Mothma said next, "May I ask…how did you become injured?"

Anakin felt Luke tense, ever-so-slightly. He rushed to speak before Luke said anything too self-condemning.

"Palpatine - is not - lightly crossed - Senator," Anakin quickly wheezed, albeit it was a firm wheeze.

"Most of those injuries are my fault," Luke said abruptly.

"No," Anakin was swift to correct, "I - brought these - upon myself."

Luke didn't enjoy that idea at all, and unfortunately the compassion in their brief exchange did not go unnoticed.

"There's something neither of you are telling us," Mon Mothma said, her voice stern, "If we're to do anything, all the facts must be set on the open."

'I should have expected this from a senator,' Anakin sighed to himself, and when Luke's presence touched his again, nudged the boy. Anakin was tired from talking anyway.

"The main reason I saved him and brought him with me when I escaped from the Death Star," Luke said slowly, weighing his words carefully as he released them, "Is because…he is my father."

You could have heard a pin drop. Mon Mothma broke the silence.

"Darth Vader is your _father?_"

"My name," Anakin hissed, momentary anger subverting the survival instincts that were screaming at him to just shut up and lay there and _breathe_, dammit, "is - Anakin Skywalker. I gave up - the name Vader - when I killed Palpatine."

"I…see," the senator replied, although she clearly didn't, "Is that all?"

"Well…" Luke hesitated, then plunged ahead.

"It turns out I also have a twin sister. We were separated and raised in different places, in order to protect us. I didn't know this myself until very recently."

"Do you know who this sister of yours is," Madine asked in curiosity.

"I do. She's Leia."

"Leia of House Organa? …Does she know?"

"I told her before I left the strike team," Luke said, "And she also knows about Father."

"This is serious," Mon Mothma said.

"I suggest what we have discussed does not go beyond us," Madine said after a moment's thought, "Morale implications aside, some of our more…radical people might be tempted to act…unwisely."

It was just like being back in the Old Republican senate. At least Madine's idea hadn't gone into a committee yet, Anakin thought sourly.

The suit's pain-suppressant circuitry was shutting down by now, and Anakin winced as he shifted his head a little. Luke must have noticed it somehow, because he started using his own Force skills to try and help alleviate the pain.

Anakin tried to shrug the help off, but he was still weak and what Luke was doing was actually making him feel sleepy…with only a brief mental struggle Anakin let himself fall unconscious again.

--

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I've been editing the chapters to clear up some minor formatting issues. As you might have noticed, I'm taking more from the Extended Universe then from the prequel trilogy for this story (after all, I did start writing it before most of the prequel trilogy came out...), so I hope you'll bear that in mind if you notice anything too diverging from the movies.

Please feel free to review and tell me what you think!


	2. Niban: Number Two

Disclaimer: See chapter 1

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When Anakin woke up again, he was surprised to find his suit in full working condition - or at least as full as it was going to get. Someone had noticed the short-use design on some of the parts and had modified them to last much longer.

Well, the oxygen tank on the Executor was probably scrap metal by now, although it was a bit of a shame that such a fine ship had been mostly likely destroyed, so Anakin would just have to make the best of things. At least whoever had been tinkering with his helmet had reset the blasted optics so that he could see.

What he saw was the inside of a medical suite, and not an Imperial one. He was also alone, and - well, that wasn't much of a surprise, someone had thoughtfully strapped him down so he couldn't get up or fall off the bed. The bed itself was partially slanted, so that Anakin was more leaning against the top part and more lying on the bottom.

Anakin took another look, wondering what he was supposed to do now, when a most familiar tingle raced over his senses. The last time he'd felt that was…damn.

He abruptly looked down and studied his hands - err, his hand. His right one was still missing.

'_Well what am I supposed to say_,' Anakin thought to himself furiously, '_Gee, I'm really sorry that I killed you Master?_'

"Apology accepted, for what it was worth," came a familiar, if oddly ghostly now, voice.

Anakin glanced over to see Obi-wan Kenobi eyeing him, curiosity evident in the old man's expression.

Anakin's first response to that was an old one.

"Master, you know I hate it when you do that."

Bafflement warred briefly for control of Kenobi's expression, but soon lost to amusement.

"That would be the point, Padawan," Kenobi said, utilizing his ritual response.

Then bafflement took over.

"Are you all right, Anakin?"

"My head hurts," Anakin replied, "And it feels like I missed out on the last two decades. Nothing from then's coming clearly at all."

"I see," Obi-wan said, looking thoughtful, "Hmm…I suspect your mind is blocking out those memories on a subconscious level. It sounds like you've gotten some type of mental flash burn on your time in the Dark Side. It doesn't seem to be blocking the memories completely, however, otherwise you would most likely be extremely confused as to why I am currently both old and dead."

"Yes, about that…"

Anakin paused, then reconsidered his words.

"What happened all that talk about becoming 'more powerful than I could imagine'? No offense, Master, but…"

"Diplomatic as always, Ani," Obi-wan sighed, "It's - complicated."

"That would be 'Kenobi-speak' for '_I don't want to admit it and you can't make me_'," Anakin replied at once.

"You know, I almost missed that wonderfully insightful commentary of yours," Obi-wan retorted.

"I know."

For the next couple of minutes neither of them said anything.

"How long was I out?"

"Not long," Obi-wan said, "It's only just daybreak, local time. Luke went down to the surface - Mon Mothma practically threw him off the ship and actually had to order him to go celebrate with the others. I suspect he'll be here shortly."

"I see."

--

Obi-wan vanished just as the doorway to the medical suite opened up. Anakin had a sudden urge to laugh when he saw Luke's expression while the boy looked for him. Well, he had been tucked into the back corner.

Anakin opted to flick Luke's Force presence with a tendril of his own. He could do it now - it was notably stronger - but that odd memory blockage Obi-wan had diagnosed him with seemed to have taken half his old Force presence with it.

And by old, Anakin meant the presence he'd had when he had been a Jedi Padawan. Darth Vader's evil presence had actually been smaller than Anakin Skywalker's good one; Vader had just managed to delude himself into thinking that it had become greater.

Either way, Luke noticed and quickly moved to stand next to him.

_/How are you feeling, Father?/_ Luke asked.

He was speaking mind-to-mind…the room must have been bugged. Anakin wished he'd realized that about that during his banter with his old Master. Oh well, total confusion wouldn't hurt the ones listening in to his conversation with Kenobi _too_ much.

_/Pretty good, considering/_ Anakin replied, also speaking mind-to-mind, _/I presume I've scared the other patients out of here, as well as the staff./_

_/Everybody who got injured was on Endor, so that's where they all are; and besides, none of the injuries are that serious/ _Luke said, _/Oh, by the way. I was checking something, and it turns out you're a part of the Ewok tribe too./_

_/…Maybe later you can explain what an Ewok is/_ Anakin suggested, _/But Luke, you couldn't have spent the night doing just that./_

_/…I didn't want to bring it up/_ Luke began slowly, _/But…I told Leia you were up here./_

/I see. I gather she didn't take the news well/ Anakin sighed, leaning back against the bed.

_/Leia didn't take it __that badly/_ Luke insisted. _/Han, on the other hand…well, he's not going to come on board the ship if he can help it. And you might want watch for his blaster if you see him./_

_/I can still handle a simple blaster/_ Anakin said.

'_I think_,' he added to himself.

_/In the meantime…we could play sabacc?/ _Luke offered.

_/No thanks, I'm not a fan of sabacc./_

_/Too bad, you could probably pull a better bluff then Lando/ _Luke joked.

_/…Yeah, and I'll probably need to avoid him too/_ Anakin added with a mental wince, _/Plus that Wookiee…and everyone else in the galaxy except for you, Madine, and Mon Mothma. Maybe I should just leave./_

_/Don't go, Father!/_ Luke said, his mental tone rising as he moved to stand in front of Anakin, /Not when I only just got you back! I'll think of something -/

_/Luke/_ Anakin interrupted, _/Calm down, my son. I'm not going anywhere, okay?/_

Anakin patted the restraint lightly to emphasize his point.

_/I can sense the unease in you very easily, my son. Perhaps you should do something to relax for a while./_

_/Relax how? What do you do when you need to relax, Father?/_

Anakin made a face, although it couldn't be seen under his faceplate.

_/It's embarrassing…but normally, if I have free time…I, um…I fix droids./_

_/…You're kidding./_

_/I am not! I find ways to get my hands on broken-down droids…then I make them work better then they did before. I was working on a mouse droid most recently but Executor's gone and I was hiding it in my quarters…are you laughing at me, Luke?!/_

_/Sorry, Father/_ Luke said as he restrained all but a few tiny chuckles, _/But it doesn't quite fit with the whole 'Sith Lord' image./_

_/Hah! You should have seen me the few times I got my hands on a ship! I'm the best mechanic in the Empire! Well, I, well, you know what I mean/_ Anakin said, looking away and feeling very embarrassed.

_/I don't doubt it for a second, Father/_ Luke replied, _/And now I've been inspired to go work on my X-wing. I'll come by again later, okay?/_

_/Do what you wish/_ Anakin said, and let his eyes wander while Luke left the suite.

--  
Well, so much for that distraction. Anakin was just mentally preparing himself for a long and especially boring day when someone came into the medical suite. Two someones, actually.

"Well, I could have sworn I saw Master Luke come in here," voiced the taller one.

The shorter one launched a volley of bleeps, whistles, and electronic blats.

"Well, I don't see you giving _me_ any directions! For the life of me, I'll never understand astromechs…"

Anakin mulled over the words. That voice, and the beeping…he knew them, didn't he? Was it another of those muddled Vader memories? No, earlier then that…

"Perhaps there's someone here who can help us," continued the taller one as the pair - droids, they were both droids - made their way further into the suite.

Anakin didn't have to wait long before they finally noticed him. Of course, the astromech noticed his presence first. It beeped shrilly.

"Oh, what's the matter with you - OH! Good heavens! Run Artoo! Darth Vader is in the medical suite!"

Oh good grief. Anakin gave the two droids a long look. For all his screeching, the protocol droid wasn't budging, only standing there moaning how they were going to be blasted into scrap metal. The astromech droid stopped beeping an alarm after a couple more seconds.

((**_Hey, I think he's a patient here,_**)) the astromech whistled.

"Don't be ridiculous Artoo, why would Darth Vader be a patient in a Rebel Alliance medical facility? Honestly," the protocol droid huffed, "I wonder why you haven't been sent to the scrap heap already. Darth Vader is a patient, huff!"

((**_He's strapped to a bed, he has to be a patient_**,)) 'Artoo' insisted, and trundled forwards a few paces.

((_**Right? You're not here to cause trouble,**_)) the droid beeped at Anakin cheerfully.

"Don't talk to him Artoo, you'll just encourage him and then he'll _never_ leave."

As incredibly funny as this all was - actually, this was the single funniest thing he'd seen in his life (and that included seeing Jar Jar Binks becoming a Senator) - Anakin made a loud throat-clearing noise.

"Oh! Oh dear oh dear," the protocol droid said.

"Are you looking for Luke Skywalker?" Anakin asked.

The protocol droid looked like it was going to have a heard attack - and without the heart.

"OH! Oh my, oh dear. Um, what did you say?"

"I asked," Anakin said clearly, "If you came in here to look for Luke Skywalker."

"Oh…we did, actually," the droid admitted, "Err…Lord Vader…you know where he is?"

"I believe," Anakin replied, "That he was going to head to his fighter. I do not know where that is, but I believe that is where he has gone."

"Oh," the protocol droid said with relief - was it going to faint? Could droids faint? - "Thank you very much, Lord Vader…oh dear! How could I be so foolish?"

((**_You were built that way,_**)) Artoo pronounced.

"I've been so rude! I haven't even introduced myself! I'm so terribly sorry."

The protocol droid drew itself up, like it was going to make some sort of history-changing announcement.

"I am C-3PO, Human-Cyborg relations. I am fluent in over 6 million forms of communication and am currently in the service of Mistress Leia Organa and Master Luke Skywalker. And this is my counterpart, R2-D2."

Artoo beeped a hello. Anakin thought he was going to pass out, but he managed to give Threepio a nod. Elated, the protocol droid scampered out the door, the astromech following behind much slower.

Anakin nearly did pass out when Artoo paused before the doorway.

((**_I promise to come back for a real visit later, Ani!_**))

And then he was out the door. Anakin had to draw on the Force to stay aware. Of all the…they'd been Artoo and Threepio all along!

'Well I'll be a Wookiee's uncle,' Anakin thought as he let his eyes slide shut, 'Good old Artoo! And somebody put new plating on Threepio…I wonder if Padme had it done? I wonder if Threepio would remember me? Artoo probably knows…I'll have to remember to ask him when he comes back. They both made it through just fine, well I'll be darned…'

--

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There, I hope you enjoyed that!


	3. Sanban: Number Three

Author's Note: Even though Anakin's survival drastically alters the timeline of Star Wars, I have attempted to stay as close to the book canon (i.e. Extended Universe) as I could. Kudos to anyone that also follows the canon (at least more or less)

Disclaimer: I do not own Star Wars in any way, shape, or form.

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Anakin figured the procession of visitors had ended, and he was right - for the next fifteen minutes. Then someone else came in, their sudden presence shaking him out of a light doze.

That person was Mon Mothma. Anakin couldn't detect any ill intent from her - but he didn't trust his Force senses entirely when it came to dealing with a senator.

She was definitely all business, heading straight for him.

"I trust your stay has been uneventful," she asked formally.

"It has been…different," Anakin admitted, well aware this conversation was probably still being monitored, "I admit that normally, I never get such a constant string of visitors."

"Indeed," Mon Mothma said, and pulled out a data pad.

"So, who was the 'visitor' before Commander Skywalker? You were speaking to someone, although the life sensors detected nothing and there were no droids in the room."

"I suspect," Anakin replied, unconsciously letting his personal distaste for this sort of political subterfuge influence his tone of voice, "That your life monitors detected nothing because the person I was speaking with is no longer among the living."

"May I ask who it was?"

"It was not Palpatine," Anakin shot back, "I don't need the Force to see that train of thought."

Mon Mothma looked amused.

"I recall General Kenobi mentioning something about your more unorthodox methods of conversation," she said, something Anakin hadn't been expecting, before triggering the release of the restraints holding him to the bed.

"Our command staff would like to debrief you."

"I have a choice?" Anakin inquired as he got up and subtly stretched.

"You could have used the Force to leave here earlier," Mon Mothma pointed out.

"True. But what would the point have been in that?"

Nodding in reply, she indicated he was to follow her out. She paused before the doorway, and to Anakin's surprise uncovered a 2-1B medical droid that had been concealed there. So that's what had been monitoring him. She told it its job was done and it calmly headed to a different part of the medical suite while Mothma went out the door. Anakin quickly followed her.

--

He felt extremely out of place on a Rebel vessel, even more so with one of the Rebellion's leaders in arm's reach. Anakin also wondered if someone was going to see him, think he was trying to sneak up behind Mon Mothma, and shoot him. She had seemingly planned ahead to avoid such an incident. The route Mon Mothma took was roundabout, but clear of life forms.

When they finally reached the war room, there was one guard on duty, a Mon Calalamarian. The guard had apparently been briefed, because while he kept his hand on his blaster he didn't shoot. Mothma didn't give the guard a second glance, although Anakin made sure to keep an eye on him until he was inside the war room.

The war room itself was big and almost completely empty, save for a few maintenance droids and Madine. Near the General was a small holoprojector displaying another Mon Calamarian, this one wearing admiralty insignia.

Having a sudden burst of self-consciousness, Anakin held his severed arm closer to his body before warily following Mothma to the side of the large circular projector.

The Mon Cal was the first one to speak.

"I still fail to see, Mon Mothma, what good there is in having Darth Vader joining our side when he has been our most feared opponent in this conflict."

"That is precisely why I requested we have this private conference, Admiral Ackbar," Mon Mothma replied, "The reasons are complicated, and could easily have significant impacts for the entire Fleet."

"Commander Skywalker also seems unusually interested in Lord Vader's fate, judging from the reports you've given me," Ackbar added, "Perhaps that can be explained as well?"

"It explains everything," Mon Mothma replied, while Anakin suddenly thought to brace himself.

"Commander Skywalker is his son."

The Mon Calamarian Admiral was shocked speechless for a full minute.

"…You…you have confirmed this?"

"We have. A tissue sample proved it quite easily," Madine said, giving Anakin a slightly sympathetic look as he did so.

So, they'd taken his mask off after all…must have been to hook him to another respirator while his own was being repaired. Anakin knew what his head and face looked like these days, and he hoped Luke hadn't seen it, although that hope was probably in vain.

Ackbar was staring at him now. If he'd been human, his eyes would have narrowed; as it was, his great domed head only quivered slightly.

"…I have heard," he began slowly, "Something of Sith traditions. I know that a Sith Lord will usually give himself a new name. Under that assumption, Darth Vader is that new name."

"You are correct, Admiral," Anakin replied.

"May I ask what your true name is then?"

Anakin took a deep breath.

"Anakin Skywalker."

Ackbar's expression was, if it was possible, even more shocked then when he'd heard about Anakin's relation to Luke.

"Impossible! General Kenobi's records clearly state that you were killed, and over twenty years ago! By none other than…oh," Ackbar said as he put two and two together, "I see."

"Obi-wan has spread that story around a great deal, it would seem," Anakin replied.

"It would probably be best if this information remained a secret for the time being," Madine quickly said, "So, until this can be made public, you'll have to get used to still being called Vader."

"I think I can manage it," Anakin said dryly, "I'm more concerned that somebody's going to shoot me."

"We'll make a public announcement that Darth Vader has joined our side," Ackbar declared, "And Commander Skywalker should be notified that he shouldn't try to spread information on his lineage around."

"Just - don't strangle anyone, Skywalker," Madine warned Anakin.

"I shall endeavor to keep that in mind," Anakin replied dryly.

"_Corporal_ Skywalker!" Ackbar exclaimed suddenly.

Ackbar managed to startle Madine and Mon Mothma quite badly with that. Anakin, on the other hand, responded to the name like the last twenty years had never been.

"Yes, Admiral?"

"I thought that was your last official rank," Ackbar said delightedly, "We'll need to reactivate you immediately."

"Confidentially, I should hope," Mon Mothma warned.

"Of course. Although…the title is twenty years old…"

"It doesn't matter what rank you make me," Anakin pointed out, "Everyone's still going to call me 'Lord Vader', no matter what."

"Perhaps. But between us…I'd say Colonel Skywalker sounds much better. Perhaps even General."

Mon Mothma frowned at that, but in the end nodded, conceding.

"Very well. Corporal Skywalker, I hereby reactivate your commission and promote you to the level of…Colonel, starting immediately. This is, of course, extremely classified information."

Anakin nodded.

"Now then," Mon Mothma began, but was interrupted when the intraship comm started beeping. Madine answered it.

"Sorry to interrupt, sir, but an Imperial drone ship has just entered the system. Captain Antilles has headed to intercept."

"Incoming from where," Madine said.

"Deep space, sir. Hold on…sir, Captain Antilles is having difficulties…and the probe has been armed to self-destruct. Captain Antilles has gone e-vac, and Commander Skywalker has just left to assist."

There was a tangible pause as the four in the war room waited. Their waiting was thankfully over in only a few minutes.

"The probe has been disarmed, sir. Pickup of the probe commencing. Medvac reports incoming wounded."

There was more busywork as the medical reports came in. Captain Antilles had been put into a bacta tank, to be treated for a partially crushed hand and oxygen deprivation…and Commander Skywalker was being confined to the medical bay.

2-1B's report stated that Luke had been diagnosed with a case of 'sudden and massive calcification of skeletal structure', brought on by 'severely conductive exposure to electrical and other energy fields.'

--

Anakin shivered inside his suit. Force lightning. Had it really only happened yesterday? And unlike himself, Luke had had no protection against Palpatine's vicious assault. Anakin's suit had taken the brunt of what damage he had received while tossing the decrepit monarch down the reactor shaft.

It had still been extremely painful…but nothing compared to falling into a molten pit. Now _that_ feeling was going to haunt Anakin for the rest of his life.

While the information within the probe droid was being downloaded and decrypted, Mon Mothma released the general statement of Vader's changing sides, and after allowing enough time for everyone to have read about it, called in more people to assist in analysis.

A communications link was also established to Endor, allowing Leia to participate in the conference. While Mon Mothma updated his daughter on the situation, Anakin kept himself from speaking. Leia would either forgive him with time or not at all; but no sense rubbing salt into wounds that were still fresh.

The fresh-faced Lieutenant that entered the war room after a few minutes - Matthews, the others called him - nearly fainted when he came in and spotted Anakin, but managed to compose himself and get to work. With a lot of glancing over his shoulder, at least until Madine inquired what was so much more interesting than his job. That stopped the looks…at least while Matthews thought Madine was looking.

"We should have the message in shortly," Lieutenant Matthews said.

The door to the war room opened. The sound of an incoming repulsor chair brought Mon Mothma and Madine's heads around and they both started frowning. Anakin's faceplate hid his slight smirk, but even he disapproved when he saw his son piloting the chair down the steps.

"You'll never learn, will you," Madine said, "You belong in sickbay. This time we'll have Two-Onedee knock you out."

Anakin merely watched from the sidelines as Luke retorted to that. And while Ackbar replied to that, and Luke's retort to the Mon Calamarian.

Anakin couldn't help but feel amused when Artoo, who had been trailing Luke on his way here, parked himself by the boy's side and started issuing a steady line of rebukes. Some had come from 2-1B, but some of the others were ones Anakin remembered.

"All right, Artoo. Pull in your wheels, I'm sitting down. This should be interesting," Luke said, giving his father a decidedly sour look, having sensed Anakin's amusement with his son's situation.

"Here it comes," Lieutenant Matthews announced, and all present leaned forward slightly for a better look.

--

**(((IMPERIAL GOVERNOR WILEK NEREUS OF THE BAKURA **

**SYSTEM, TO HIS MOST EXCELLENT IMPERIAL MASTER **

**PALPATINE: GREETINGS IN HASTE.**

**BAKURA IS UNDER ATTACK BY AN ALIEN INVASION **

**FORCE FROM OUTSIDE YOUR DOMAIN. ESTIMATE FIVE **

**CRUISERS, SEVERAL DOZEN SUPPORT SHIPS, OVER 1000**

** SMALL FIGHTERS. UNKNOWN TECHNOLOGY. WE HAVE**

** LOST HALF OUR DEFENSE FORCE AND ALL **

**OUTERSYSTEM OUTPOSTS. HOLONET TRANSMISSIONS**

** TO IMPERIAL CENTER AND DEATH STAR TWO HAVE **

**GONE UNANSWERED. URGENT, REPEAT URGENT, SEND STORMTROOPERS.)))**

--  
Madine eagerly commed for more information, and while the recorded visuals played Anakin reluctantly sifted through Vader's memories for information about the Bakura System.

Nothing was forthcoming. He'd never been there, or even heard of the place. Then again, Anakin hadn't even heard of Endor until Palpatine had sent him here to get the Second Death Star construction back on schedule. There were just some star systems that did not attract interest in the galaxy.

Mon Mothma ordered the intelligence droid to access the embedded data files. Apparently, nobody else in the war room had heard of Bakura either.

And no wonder, when the system was practically on the galactic edge.

Leia spoke up, asking about the size of the Imperial force in system and bringing up the idea that a grateful Bakura might defect to the Alliance. She immediately volunteered to act as an investigator and/or diplomat. Anakin held in the wistful sigh that threatened to escape him. Leia was exactly like Padme.

And Luke was exactly like him, which he proved as he immediately started badgering to go as well, even though he was also very close to passing out. After shooting Luke's plan out of the water, Mon Mothma turned to Anakin with a thoughtful expression.

"I should wonder what your opinion on all this is, Lord Vader," she said.

From the speaker system, they all heard Leia's not-quite concealed gasp of alarm. She hadn't known he was there.

"Indeed," Ackbar said, "I find myself wondering how the Empire would have reacted to this."

Anakin thought about it for a second; what would that half-dead ex-Chancellor have done in this situation? Taking the Death Star out of the equation…

"The Empire," Anakin replied, choosing his words very carefully and keeping his voice clinically disinterested, "Would have sent a detachment of the Imperial Navy to wipe out the invaders. That fleet would then trace the invaders to their home system or systems, destroy all their ships, immolate a few planets, and enslave whatever else remained. If there was nothing left of immediate use or value, then everything would be destroyed.

"That is, of course, the behavior of the Empire under Palpatine's control."

"And the fleet we fought is mostly in drydock…but surely the Empire has more ships?"

"Correct. But they do not possess the will to use them for the defense of such a remote system," Anakin replied.

"So it's even more urgent that we send ships," Luke insisted.

"Commander Skywalker, I understand your desire to help, but you need to recover. We'll be sending ships - in a standard day at the most."

Luke grudgingly returned to the medical suite, Artoo following. After some more conversation about what ships to send, the meeting also ended.

--

* * *


	4. Yonban: Number Four

Many thanks to everyone for all the wonderful reviews. They really mean a lot to me .

Disclaimer: I am not George Lucas, unfortunately.

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--

--

Mon Mothma had already left for her quarters. Anakin was wondering what he was supposed to do now when Madine approached him.

"We've prepared a room for you, if you'll follow me," he said briskly, and the two left.

It was late in the ship's 'night' now, so there was little chance of someone seeing them. Even the main corridors were deserted.

If he stretched out, Anakin could sense the crew tucked away in their cabins. He'd be able to watch their dreams. Right now he could even feel each individual rivet in the deck plating he was walking on.

And this was his Force presence at only half its strength!

Right now, without even trying, he could feel Madine's mind going along at a million klicks a second, although he would actually have to reach before he could hear what the man was thinking.

Having such strength in the Force had its drawbacks. When no one else seemed to understand what you could feel or what you could do…it had been so easy for the forked-tongued Supreme Chancellor to work his way into Anakin's trust, to tell him everything he'd ever wanted to hear from his Master and the rest of the Order…and even easier for Palpatine to turn his sense of resentment into a lust for power, power enough to MAKE them understand how he saw the universe. But then again, the Force hadn't been strong enough to give him the ability to resist the Dark Side…

Anakin was startled, but concealed it, when Madine suddenly stopped. They were in the medical wing of the ship again, he noted as the General keyed the door open.

"It's a little under-furnished, but it does meet Two-onebee's specifications," Madine said as he preceded Anakin inside.

Under-furnished wasn't the word. Except for three things the room was completely empty. There was a 'desk', which was just a small, horizontal piece of plating sticking out of the wall. There was a metal stool next to it.

And then there was an extremely large metal chamber that comprised the other two-thirds of the room. It was currently open, but inside was a padded bench, a computer terminal, and other things Anakin had always contemplated keeping inside his oxygen tanks. The metal was strong, and the whole thing could be closed and pressurized.

"I hope its not going to be too primitive for you?"

"That thing," Anakin said, his surprise managing to show in his synthesized speech, "Is bigger than the one I had on the Executor. …I think it will be just fine."

Madine seemed to smirk at that, and left. Anakin barely noticed it when the general locked the door behind him. After more careful inspection, Anakin sat on the bench and sealed off the chamber.

He waited as the thing pressurized and was then pumped full of pure oxygen before gladly taking off as much of the suit as he could. That was the helmet and the chest plate. He couldn't get anything else with one arm.

Making a mental note to see about getting a new mechanical arm, Anakin then inspected the terminal. It was a non-holographic unit, although it did have a screen to allow him to view anyone standing in the other part of his 'room'. It was a little awkward to type with just the left hand too. Oh well, at least he wasn't being held a prisoner.

Not daring to actually lie down while still mostly in the suit, he simply sat on the bench and tried to put himself into a restful trance. .A blinking of a light on his terminal jogged him back to full consciousness. Answering it gave him a message.

\\LUKE IS HAVING A MEETING IN THE MEDICAL SUITE. HE CLAIMS BEN KENOBI JUST VISITED HIM AND WANTS HIM TO GO TO BAKURA. DID YOU WANT TO COME TO THE MEETING ANI?\\

Artoo, thoughtful as ever. Anakin sent a reply as fast as he could.

\\Who else is going to be there?\\

\\ME, LUKE, MON MOTHMA, ACKBAR, MADINE. ALSO HAN AND LEIA ARE COMING UP FROM ENDOR. YOU DON'T HAVE TO COME IF YOU DON'T WANT TO ANI, I WAS JUST WONDERING. LUKE DIDN'T WANT TO BOTHER YOU IF YOU WERE ASLEEP.\\

\\Thanks but no thanks R2. Unless I'm actually needed there, I'll stay here.\\

\\WOW. THAT'S A FIRST.\\

--

Anakin rolled his eyes and moved back to his perch on the bench, slipping back into the trance. As much as he felt the urge to go see what his former master had told his son, he was too tired to deal with Leia and Captain Solo right now.

Old aches combined with new ones, leaving Anakin ready to just crash right then and there. It was only a severely uncomfortable memory of the first and only time he'd fallen asleep in his armor that gave him the energy to go into the trance at all.

He felt much more refreshed when he woke up. And hungry. And inside the outset wall panel were packets of…well well, the 2-1B really had done a through examination of him. Inside were half a dozen different kinds of super-processed 'meals'. His digestive tract was mostly okay, but the mouth and throat demanded - and got - either liquids or air.

He had a 'Ration Bar' meal and shuddered the entire time he was eating it. Nothing helped that stuff. Anakin was a little surprised a processor had managed to actually liquefy one of them.

The chronometer showed it was extremely early, ship's time. The fleet group being sent to Bakura would be leaving in only a few hours. And it was to be lead by...Commander Skywalker. Anakin stretched out to Luke's presence and found him awake and eager to leave. Luke responded to the probe with curiosity - he'd been wondering why Anakin hadn't been at the meeting. Although he had a pretty good theory as to why.

Well, it wasn't going to help anything if Anakin continued hiding inside a tank. Clumsily resetting the pieces of his suit that he'd taken off, he waved at the control panel and waited until the chamber had finished resetting to standard pressure and air before opening it and getting out.

'_I'm never going to get used to this_,' he mentally sighed as he gingerly stuck his head out the doorway.

Thankfully, the only thing he saw was Artoo, who was heading his way.

((**_Was just coming to wake you,_**)) the droid beeped as he did an abrupt about-face, leading the way back to the main medical suite.

It wasn't far, and just inside he paused to watch Luke practicing - or rather, trying to practice - a healing technique on himself. There was another person there was well, a fighter pilot who's eyes went really wide when he saw who he thought of as Darth Vader. Anakin paused just inside the doorway when he realized he'd met the man as Vader.

"Uh…Luke?"

"What is it Wedge - oh. Oh! I forgot, you were in the tank. It's okay, he's on our side now. Lord, uh, Vader -" Luke stumbled over the name, which thankfully no one else noticed, "This is a friend of mine, Captain Wedge Antilles."

"We have met," was all Anakin said.

"Really? You two know each other?"

"Yep," Antilles said, extremely nervous, "When I was, ah, when I was captaining the Tantive IV. In fact, L-Lord Vader, as I recall you almost snapped my neck."

"My apologies," Anakin replied with the slightest bow of his head.

Anakin felt pleased when he was rewarded with Captain Antilles's total shock and amazement. The captain hastily excused himself. Who knew what the other pilots were going to make of this - Vader and apologizing were not things that went together normally. ."Is that going to happen a lot?" Luke asked.

"I don't think so," Anakin answered honestly, "I usually killed most of the Rebels I found." .Gallows humor notwithstanding, their conversation turned towards Kenobi's late-night visitation.

"I wonder if he wanted you to come as well," Luke mused.

"Did he say anything to that effect?"

"No…" Luke admitted, "And when he was talking to me, he kept saying that 'you' needed to go. A lot of emphasis on me going. I think he would have said something otherwise."

Luke's brow furrowed.

"He also said something about Palpatine making a deal with the aliens. One that can't work now."

"I don't recall hearing of any such deal; but Palpatine was always good at making under-the-table agreements. I never could tell half the time what his plans were, for anything."

Their conversation was interrupted by 2-1B, who had several replacement arms available if Anakin wanted one. Artoo hooted knowingly at Anakin's choice while Luke was confused. .After the final attachments had been made, Anakin held up the golden metal hand, flexing the fingers. It was a small testament to the old Anakin Skywalker, the one that had gotten married with such a device for his right hand. Padme used to tease him about it sometimes…claimed she expected it to be attached to Threepio, or joked about giving Anakin an oil bath to get the grit out of his hair…

The overhead speakers came to life with a slight crackling noise.

"Commander Skywalker, report to the hanger bay," came a voice.

It was so bland it was impossible to tell if it was droid or a living creature. Even when it hesitated before making the next announcement.

"Lord Vader, report to the war room."

_/Well, I guess this is when I head for the ship, Father/_ Luke said as the three of them moved to stand in the corridor.

_/I'll be here when you get back, son/_ Anakin said, not really knowing why he said exactly those words.

Shrugging it off, he added, _/All I need to worry about is someone in the Alliance shooting me./_

_/What a coincidence Father/_ Luke said with a grin, _/I'm worried about the Imperials doing the same thing to me!/_

_/Why, we must be related somehow,_/ Anakin shot back.

_/You may be right. It certainly explains why we have the same last name./_

They managed to laugh a little before both of them turned and headed off in different directions; Luke to the hanger, and Anakin to the war room. Artoo beeped a goodbye before heading after Luke, who was easy to catch up with as he limped along.

Leaving Anakin Skywalker on his own to face the perils of the Rebel Alliance.

--

It was a long walk back to the war room.

Not because Anakin didn't know the way; he had memorized both the routes Mon Mothma and Madine had taken him to and from the room. And he was taking Madine's, which was much shorter.

No, the long part was due to his extremely potent case of nerves. When he went around the corners, Anakin fully expected to find himself facing a dozen resentful aliens with blaster rifles, ready to slaughter him where he stood.

It didn't really reassure him that the only person he saw, a Sullustan, squealed in mortal terror and bolted back down the corridor he had just come out of. Timid Sullustan nature notwithstanding.

The guard by the war room was the same Gotal that had gone on-duty during the meeting last night. He winced and waved Anakin in. Knowing full well of Gotal sensitivity to the Force, he went inside the room quickly.

There was another meeting going on in here. Anakin had just enough time after the door closed behind him to feel a sense of impending doom before Madine noticed him. "And here he is now! Good morning, Lord Vader!"

Calrissian didn't take Anakin's appearance nearly so well.

"What the - what the hell!"

"Calm down Calrissian," Madine said as Anakin walked closer - angling himself closer to Madine for safety's sake, "I told you I had a way to get the Imperial Garrison out of Cloud City without any problems."

"But Vader's the one - you're the one that put a garrison there in the first place," Calrissian spluttered angrily, pointing an accusing finger in Anakin's direction.

"Which means they'll believe it more when he gives them the order to move out," Madine said, as calm as if he was speaking to a petulant child.

"Oh really? And what if they don't believe him?"

"That's why we're going to send some ships with you. With the Flurry and her squadrons at Bakura, we don't have many snub fighters available, but we can send along a Star Cruiser and our last Corellian Corvette." Calrissian thought this over for a moment.

"And I'll be in command of them?"

"It's your mission, General."

Not convinced, the gambler nodded towards Anakin. Anakin, for his part, had not moved or said anything since reaching his place beside Madine.

"What if Vader here pulls a double cross?"

"I assure you, General," Madine said with a tone of voice that clearly stated 'you're grinding my last nerve here, little man', "Commander Skywalker has taken full responsibly for Lord Vader. If Commander Skywalker trusts Lord Vader enough to leave him with us while he's away, then I think you should respect his judgment. General."

"Well…if it's Luke's idea that he's even here," Calrissian admitted grudgingly, "Then I guess this will be okay. It'd be good to get the garrison out without any big fuss, I suppose."

"I'm so glad you agree. I'm placing Lord Vader under your direct command for the duration of this mission. General Calrissian will fill you in," Madine finished with a nod of his head to Anakin, before departing for the main bridge of the ship.

"Well this should be…interesting," Calrissian muttered to himself.

Anakin was already bracing himself when Calrissian finally turned and spoke to him directly. The suppressed anger and unconcealed contempt in the other man would have been obvious to a blind man when Calrissian spoke.

"Okay, this is how things are going to work. You do what I say, got it? On this mission, as far as you're concerned, I'm the Emperor. Understand?"

"I understand perfectly, General Calrissian," Anakin replied.

'_Of course, if he was the Emperor, I'd wouldn't be working for him anymore_,' he added to himself.

"Okay then," Calrissian said, more to reassure himself than in response to what Anakin had said.

"You stay by me at all times," Calrissian further ordered as he started heading for the door, "Even if Luke does trust you, I'm still gonna be keeping my eyes on you. Well, come on! I don't have all day! I want to get this thing over with already."

Had Anakin still been a Sith Lord, he probably would have Force-Shoved Lando Calrissian into a bulkhead headfirst by now. And that was if he'd been feeling generous. But that 'flash burn' thingy was still draining most of the punch out of Anakin's anger, so instead he just started tailing the other through the corridors.

This almost reminded him of being 'lent' out to Grand Moff Tarkin, during the first Death Star fiasco. This time, however, if Anakin was the only one that came back, he doubted the Alliance was going to be as lenient as Palpatine…the memory of that 'leniency' sending bolts of memory-agony mixing with the phantom pains Anakin still got sometimes after losing the rest of his natural right arm to the monarch's wrath.

And even then, one still had to pity poor Bevel Lemelisk.

Anakin had heard all sorts of disturbing rumors about the things Palpatine had done to the hapless weapons designer, but of course the ones about how Palpatine had killed Lemelisk on seven different occasions had to have been grossly exaggerated. Although Palpatine might have done something truly irreparable to the man after the loss of a Second Death Star…the old man had had this eerie knack for finding the worst possible torture you could inflict on someone and then find the only way to change it and make it twenty-five times worse…something one learned about at their own peril… .

…When he realized what train of thought he'd gotten onto, Anakin swiftly moved to a different topic. He'd been doing it again. Why was he thinking about Palpatine? That one was dead. Dead! He had ceased to be! …But…there was a chance, however slim it would be, that a Sith Lord as practiced as Palpatine might have some way, some otherwise completely forgotten ability to return from the lands of the dead… Anakin shook the idea from his head but its chill remained, seeping into his bones.

The sooner he got out of Endor space altogether, the better.

--

* * *


	5. Goban: Number Five

Here is the next chapter! Thank you to everyone that reviewed.

IMPORTANT NOTE: I have been fully corrected on the mistake in Chapter Four! You can stop telling me what I did wrong, everyone! I'm not going to change that chapter, though, so you will just have to accept this as a part of my alternate non-Anakin-killing universe! For a full apology on the mistake, please see my bio.

Disclaimer: I do not own Star Wars

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--

--

"We are approaching Bespin, General Calrissian."

"Great. Keep us out of their sensor range," Calrissian ordered, before turning to the huge black shadow that had been trailing him the last few days like a love-sick gundark. Well, a big, silent, supposedly ex-Sith gundark.

Anakin had been following Calrissian's 'stay by me at all times' order to the letter, both baffling the crews of both ships and surprisingly enough, defusing some of Calrissian's anger at him. Although that might mostly have been because he was about to get his city back. But there was a small part of Calrissian that had grown comfortable with having Anakin always trailing behind him silently.

…And that was even though Anakin was armed with a new lightsaber. When he had found the time to make one, the gambler had absolutely no idea, but it hung from Anakin's belt as plain as daylight.

Anakin had found the focusing crystal onboard the Corvette and had been very pleased that he was once again wielding a blue lightsaber. A dark blue lightsaber, but it was blue nonetheless…

While he had been musing, Calrissian had ordered the technicians to set up the Holonet relays as the ship scanned Cloud City for signs of the Imperial presence. The garrison might have pulled out already for all they knew.

But they hadn't. Whether do to loyalty or the fact that they had no long-range spacecraft, it made little difference. This would cause complications - they would be expecting him to send them transportation. General Calrissian seemed to be thinking along the same lines.

"They aren't going to go out easy," he was muttering to himself.

He almost reluctantly eyed the supposedly-reformed Sith Lord under his command.

"…I can't believe I'm asking this…I don't suppose you have any ideas to getting them out of my city?"

Anakin took a long look at the sensor readouts before answering.

"…Unless we send them a sufficient number of shuttles for evacuation, they will see through any bluff and most certainly prepare themselves for a siege," he began.

"Well, we've only got the one from the Endor mission with us," Calrissian said, "So that's no good…"

Anakin made certain the General had finished wallowing in the full spirit of that defeatist attitude before saying, "You did not let me finish."

"Oh? Well then, by all means, finish," Calrissian said with a mocking wave of his hand.

"While it would be nearly impossible to trick them into leaving…it would be a much simpler task to merely capture the garrison intact."

"Capture the garrison," Calrissian repeated, unbelieving.

Anakin nodded.

"You still have command over the original city security system, as I seem to recall."

--

Calrissian, a true gambler, didn't dismiss the audacious idea out-of-hand, and Anakin could hear the little wheels turning inside the man's head. It could be done…and it would be risky…but even with that risk, it could be done. That was the most important part of the idea for the gambler. And it would be done.

"I think we might have a plan here," Calrissian said, "Okay, let me think…we'll load up the shuttle with supplies, and you -" He pointed at Anakin, "You'll tell them that…that because of the trouble over the Emperor's death, they're going to be pulled back to…I dunno, Coruscant. And the supplies are supposed to last them until a ship can come by to pick them up…because the fleet's under repair. And we'll sneak some of our people in with the shuttle, easy."

While Calrissian started launching orders to that effect, Anakin wondered what exactly he was going to say. And what if they had received word of the exact chain of events at the Death Star already? Well, here was to the hope that stormtrooper training was as imagination-crushing as Palpatine had engineered it to be.

"The Holonet receiver's over here," Calrissian was saying, and Anakin followed him to a separate part of the bridge where no extra sound would reach the thing's pickup range.

"It should have you incoming from Fondor," Calrissian continued, "You know what to do, right?"

"What are you going to put in the shuttle?" Anakin asked.

"Rations and spare blaster packs - uncharged, of course."

"Very well. I am ready."

During the precious few seconds before the transmission went out, Anakin reluctantly dove into the mud and muck of Vader's memories. Who had been left in charge? And how was he supposed to react to them? The information slid into place a mere instant before the projector revealed the image of the garrison commander - a Commander Sujo, he remembered.

"Lord Vader," Sujo greeted him, with some surprise showing.

"Commander," Anakin boomed back with his most Vaderesque tone of voice, "What is the garrison's status?"

Sujo snapped back to full attention.

"My Lord," he reported, "We are operating at 85 percent efficiency for this location. The resistance of the civilian population is causing some difficulties in maintaining control at this time. We began optimizing the Tibanna gas mining as of eleven months ago and have reached average levels of 74 percent optimum production."

"You are to be commended for your efficiency, Commander Sujo," Anakin replied, "However, you are to cease Tibanna production and begin preparations to leave the City immediately."

"My Lord?" Sujo was alarmed and confused, and then he did something even more unnatural for a stormtrooper and asked a question.

"My Lord…does this mean that…are the rumors true?"

What rumors would a stormtrooper commander have heard? Only one came to mind.

"The Death Star was destroyed by the Rebel fleet," Anakin said, "That is why the next available ship in your area will arrive within a galactic standard month. A shuttle with supplies is already on its way to you."

"Understood," Sujo said with a salute that seemed to be lacking something in interest.

--

Anakin switched the Holoprojector off and took some deep breaths. He still hated such dishonorable methods; and he didn't enjoy maneuvering around the truth either. Many people, including Kenobi, had thought of him as blunt; Anakin preferred to think of himself as merely direct. Calrissian, on the other hand, seemed to have done a complete 180 with his disposition towards Anakin.

"They bought it! Okay, time to go round up the landing crew," he said as he rushed out the door.

Anakin had to really step up his pace to be able to follow the excited gambler. And for someone of long strides like him, that was really something.

Calrissian led the group, of course, which was comprised of himself and several others, all posing as the regular shuttle crew. In the end, Calrissian had decided to bring Anakin along as well, just in case. Calrissian didn't quite trust Anakin to be on his own yet.

When a detachment of men came out to meet the shuttle, Calrissian and the others simple behaved like a normal shuttle crew. It was a challenge, but Anakin was able to use the Force to throw a veil over himself, so that the stormtroopers who looked at him would think they saw nothing.

--

Calrissian worked fast, Anakin had to admit; as soon as the 'pilots' made their way into Cloud City's corridors, the gambler immediately triggered his master security overrides. A large battalion of Cloud City guards, lead by a placid cyborg answering to the name Lobot, approached them within a few minutes.

The scheme Calrissian had devised was nothing short of ingenious as well; a false report of a massive riot brought the majority of the garrison into one confined space, at which point the security forces surrounded them. Had the garrison commander been there, the stormtroopers might have started a massacre anyway, but as it was they all surrendered.

While the troopers were being disarmed and bound, Anakin slipped away unnoticed. Calrissian would most likely be upset when he turned around and discovered Anakin was not in his usual place behind him; but there was still the matter of the garrison commander.

Sujo was not the most ingenious of officers, but he could be dangerous to ally and foe both if he felt the least bit threatened; a reason the man hadn't been promoted further, and something Anakin had intentionally overlooked in his fervent desire to capture his son over a year ago.

Commander Sujo was easy enough to find in the Force - he'd discovered the capture of most of his men already and the man was livid - but he also had a squad of stormtroopers with him. Anakin took a winding route to cut them off; they were heading for the shuttle.

Never interested in being subtle, Anakin stepped into the corridor in front of the group before they passed by.

"Where do you think you are going, Commander?" Anakin asked with feigned disinterest.

Sujo was surprised, surprised enough that Anakin was able to block their way entirely before he could formulate a response.

"…What are you doing on Bespin, Lord Vader?" Sujo inquired, suspicion blossoming in his mind and his expression, "Your message to us came from Fondor…"

Realization turned the skinny man's face even redder.

"You…you have betrayed us, Lord Vader! You sent those, those REBELS here on the shuttle! Well, I will see to it that the Empire hears of your change in allegiance - men, arms forward!"

The troopers obediently lifted their rifles and pointed them towards Anakin. Sujo pulled out a smaller sized blaster and trained in on Anakin as well. All eleven weapons were set to KILL, of course.

"As the man that killed the traitor Vader, I'm sure to be rewarded," Sujo said with a nasty expression.

Anakin tensed, then forced himself to relax. He called on the Force, making certain he was trying to call the Light Side of the Force. And the Force came, slow as a still pond but as strong as a river, almost the exact way he remembered it feeling over twenty-four years ago.

"Sujo," Anakin warned the other, speaking very calmly, "If you and your men surrender, you will find yourselves having a much easier time of things."

In reply, Sujo fired.

--

The bolt was strong for a blaster of that size, and aimed straight for his faceplate - Anakin slapped it away with his new right hand before activating his lightsaber in a clumsy, left-handed hold. The blaster bolt seared the outer casing of the metal palm and sank deep into the wrist joint, leaving Anakin's right hand mostly useless.

The other's blaster rifles fired a second later, which was a second too long for them. Anakin batted the bolts away, sending most of them back into the rifle barrels they had just been fired from.

The explosions from their blaster rifles blowing up in their hands stunned most of them and knocked the rest unconscious. Anakin used a Force grip to toss Sujo's blaster away from him before approaching.

They were on the ground, helpless, totally unarmed - plus stormtrooper armor was not a good protection against a lightsaber - and the ones that were still conscious were expecting death. Anakin found a part of his mind was processing the different methods of delivering that death which were available to him - cut off their heads, straight stab through the chest, he could even Force-Choke them all if he wanted to. The trouble was that Anakin most certainly didn't want to.

And the idea to simply kill them wasn't exactly a temptation…he hesitated to call it a habit, because he hadn't really made delivering death THAT much of a habit. It was more like a…like a half-faded compulsion, nudging him towards the Dark Side but without any power behind it.

He idly sent the eleven a Force Compulsion to go to sleep for a while and to forget what had just happened to them for the next fifty years or so while he searched the feeling more carefully.

--

…It WAS a compulsion. If Anakin hadn't known better, he would have thought someone was trying to put a Force Compulsion into his head. What Anakin was actually feeling was more like residue from a Force Compulsion… It was the last gasping whimper of a voice that sounded very similar to Anakin's own, so similar that Anakin himself had trouble determining the difference between the two.

Whatever this was, it was also very old, decades old at the least. Who had been sending him a Force Compulsion for the last few decades? Who could send Darth Vader a Force Compulsion without him noticing it?

The pieces fell into place so suddenly that it took Anakin a minute to figure out what had just dawned on him. Once he did, the turmoil in his head began boiling over.

Ignoring the shouts coming from behind him now, Anakin started walking. He wanted his space, and he desperately needed to think.

--

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	6. Rokuban: Number Six

Thank you all very much for your support. Please enjoy the next chapter kudasai!

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. Disclaimer: Star Wars does not belong to me .

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Lando felt a migraine coming on.

Well, yeah, even he had to admit that Vader had been a great help in recapturing Cloud City. They'd caught every last one of the stormtroopers off-guard, and it was all thanks to Vader's bluff. Capturing them all had been much easier than Lando had thought. Lando still didn't trust the guy - EX-Sith or no - but Vader had been tailing him like a pet nerf the whole way here, so Lando hadn't actually noticed he'd run off until he turned around once to find himself un-tailed.

He'd taken a full squad of men with him and followed the directions the master computer gave him to Vader's location; that location had been the resting place for a squad of stormtroopers and the garrison commander as well. This bunch had been armed to the teeth, but they were all sound asleep when they'd found them. Which meant the last of the garrison had been officially captured by this point.

But Lando's head had begun hurting when he'd spotted the barest glimpse of Vader's cape whisking around a turn, a long ways up the corridor. And then the city computer lost him completely. All it knew for certain was that Vader had gone downwards, which was why Lando was now dodging unhappy Ugnaughts looking for him.

'_He'd better have a damn good reason for being down here_,' Lando was just cursing to himself when he stepped through yet another doorway to find a large section of the level seemingly abandoned by the Ugnaughts.

'_What the? This area's in perfect working order, why'd they…_'

Oh. Of course. Just looking around another doorway brought Lando's answer to life; there was Darth Vader. The former right-hand man to the Emperor was just sitting there…but what really confused Lando was the extremely methodical repair work Vader was doing to the parts still coming into this section.

He'd gotten some tools - who knew where - and was very patiently tinkering with all the miscellaneous machinery that was dropping off the conveyer belt on his left side.

And one-handed to boot! Lando had to step closer to see why; his mechanical right hand had been blasted, it would need repair. Lando found himself half-wondering why Vader didn't fix the hand himself; he was doing a really good job with the other things he was fixing.

The next piece to drop off the belt was something so blacked and burnt that Lando couldn't recognize what it was supposed to do. Were he the one doing repairs, Lando would never think whatever-it-was could ever be fixed.

'_I'd bet five credits he can't fix that thing_,' Lando thought to himself.

Vader picked up the thingy, and actually hesitated at first, examining it from all angles carefully. Then he lifted it up and smacked it against the metal bench he was sitting on, hard. There were some beeps and some lights lit up; Vader put the thingy on top of the 'repaired' pile, which went up to a grown man's waist at this point.

'_Yeah well, they weren't my credits anyway_,' Lando added mentally, before walking into open view.

While he wanted to say something witty - wit, after all, was one of Lando's greatest qualities - the only thing Lando could think to say was, "How long have you been down here repairing things?"

"Not long," Vader replied without looking up from his next repair project.

"I see," Lando said, fidgeting a little.

"…Okay, WHY are you down here fixing things?"

"…It helps me to think."

While Lando hadn't been expecting any answers in particular, this one was especially mystifying. And it brought along another thought as well. What would Vader need help thinking about? He was repairing things like it was a nervous twitch of his or something.

After too long a pause, Lando said lamely, "Well, I didn't think that, uh, high-ranking Imperial brass, uh, did much training, uh, in repairs…"

While he still didn't look up, Vader seemed to be contemplating something.

"…I worked in a junk shop for the early part of my life," he said at length.

That was something else Lando hadn't been expecting. Of course, it wasn't like everyone started life in the spotlight - Luke and his life on a moisture farm, for example - and Vader could have been almost anyone before he started working for the Empire.

Still confused by this strange revelation, Lando muttered some stupid thing about the low probability on good pay in junk shops. Unfortunately, that remark seemed to hit one of Vader's nerves.

"SLAVES do not get paid, 'General' Calrissian," Vader said, his mechanical voice somehow both deadly venomous and eerily calm at the same time.

He jabbed the hydrospanner into the portable cooling unit harder, sending out a few stray sparks, during that sentence. Then, it was like Vader hadn't said anything out of the ordinary at all.

"Did you require me for something, 'General' Calrissian?"

The way Vader was saying 'General Calrissian' was the exact same way Han had said it when he'd discovered what Lando had done to the Millennium Falcon. Han Solo was never going to trust Lando Calrissian to take care of his ship again, that much was obvious from Han's voice alone.

'_You plan to borrow MY ship again anytime soon, 'General' Calrissian?_'

"Well, we've finished capturing the garrison," Lando said slowly, "And I already contacted the Fleet…they're going to come by and take care of the prisoners…send them back to the Empire, you know."

Vader finished the last thing he was working on and stood up. Lando lead the way back up to the main levels of Cloud City, but he was busily re-thinking his opinion of Vader the whole way.

There had been that strange emphasis to the word 'slaves'…did that mean…could it mean…Lando didn't claim to know a lot about Jedi or their 'Force', but he was a master sabacc player and he always trusted his ability to read other people's body language.

--

Right now, that ability was telling Lando that Darth Vader was a man with problems. SCARY problems.

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	7. Shichiban: Number Seven

I am very sorry for the delay before posting this chapter, everyone. Please enjoy it.

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Disclaimer: Star Wars is the property of George Lucas

Claimer: I claim this plotline in the name of me

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It must have been over several standard months since they had flown with the fleet, Luke grumbled to himself as the ships under his command - a command he was getting really tired of, to be honest - left hyperspace and formed up.

Up ahead floated several lumpy Mon Calamarian Star Cruisers, ones he recognized mixed up with newer ships. Several Corellian gunships hung close nearby, and past them were stationed a few Nebulon-B frigates and a Corellian Corvette.

Since the official formation of the New Republic, many systems had whole-heartedly left the Empire and they had provided many new ships and crews, easily strengthening the fleet that had been so devastated at Endor.

Standing out amongst the other ships was a mint-condition Imperial class Star Destroyer, a recent acquisition of the New Republic from a Kuati noblewoman - or so Luke had heard. It had also been rumored that the Republic had had to sell some of its other ships for parts in order to buy the damn thing - and answering to the name 'Alderaan'. It was the new fleet headquarters as well.

Bespin glowed like a yellowish disk in the distance as the Millennium Falcon broke off from the other incoming ships and headed for a berth on the Alderaan. Han had offered to give Luke a ride on the way back, although the other man was beginning to regret it since it was now common knowledge that Anakin Skywalker - STILL known as Darth Vader to almost all of inhabited space - was at New Republic Fleet HQ.

Leia, who was also on the Falcon, wasn't exactly thrilled about it either, even though she had managed to accept that she was related to Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader; she still insisted that Bail Organa was the only man she would ever consider her Father.

When they landed, Lando was there to meet them.

"Hey, I haven't seen you all around lately," he greeted them, kissing Leia's hand in greeting as he always did.

"Hasn't seemed to stop you," Han said as he unsubtly moved in between Lando and Leia, "Bottle up the snake-oil for once, willya?"

"I'll think about it," Lando said with a grin.

"I didn't know you were going to be here Lando," Leia continued, ignoring Han completely.

"Well, the fleet's on my doorstep, and I always try to be a good host," Lando said.

"Yeah, how did that little liberation plan of yours turn out anyway?" Han asked.

"You know, I never got a chance to use it - Madine grabbed me the day you all left for Bakura, insisted I try some half-baked plan of his to get the garrison out easier."

"Don't tell me, he sent Vader to order the troops out of there," Han joked.

"Wait, who told you? Was it Threepio?!"

"Wait a second - you mean he did?"

"I don't know how Madine did it, but he convinced me to bring Vader along," Lando admitted, "But you know what was really strange? Not only did Vader follow me around like a pet nerf the whole time, thanks to him I was able to capture that whole garrison! No shots fired!"

"He really helped, Lando?" Luke asked eagerly.

"We couldn't have done it so cleanly without him," Lando declared, "Which means I really owe you, since if you hadn't brought him over to the Alliance…"

Lando's brow furrowed.

"By the way, can I talk to you in private for a second, Luke?"

"Sure," Luke said, and they moved off a ways from the other.

--

"I'm going to be blunt with you, Luke," Lando warned him, "But I need to know - what was Vader before he hooked up with the Empire?"

Luke measured his words carefully.

"Originally, Darth Vader was a Jedi Knight," Luke said, "He was an apprentice of General Obi-Wan Kenobi who fell to the Dark Side and became Darth Vader. I don't really know his early life history much better than that."

Well, that was the truth…from a certain point of view. It worked even better that Lando was perfectly capable of reading the '_if I did know more, I'd have to Force-wipe it from your memory if I told you_' message hidden in Luke's statement.

"Well, then I do know something more than you," Lando said, "Apparently, he worked in a junk shop at some point - and I think he was a slave during then."

"Hmm…" Luke said curiously, "Well…that does explain some things. But that's not what you wanted to talk privately to me about, right?"

Lando nodded, solemnly.

"While we were liberating Cloud City, Vader started acting, well, kind of funny. Then he was assigned to work under me a few more times," Lando explained, "But whatever shook him up on the first mission didn't seem to go away. He was getting downright disturbing, the way he was acting. Then, when he was reassigned to start serving at HQ, Vader was even worse. He would just wander around Alderaan like a big black wraith - when none of the brass was drilling him for Imperial codes or advice on a particular garrison, or something else like that."

Luke nodded, then said, "And now?"

"Now, he's sealed himself away in his quarters. Told Mon Mothma he wanted to meditate on something for a while, and she said yes - that was two WEEKS ago."

"What's he hiding from?" came Leia's voice.

The two turned to see Han and Leia had come over, wondering what they were talking about and conveniently forgetting the fact that Lando and Luke's conversation had been a 'private' one.

"Maybe the guilt's finally gotten to him," Han suggested, not really concerned.

"I'd say that's good," Leia agreed.

There was an implied 'since he isn't going to get executed for his crimes' tacked to her statement.

"There's definitely something here none of you are telling me," Lando said with narrowed eyes.

'Well, he was bound to find out anyway,' Luke sighed to himself before saying, "Lando, you need to keep what you're about to hear to yourself, understand?"

"Fine. I'll even swear on the Millennium Falcon," Lando said, "Now what's going on between you and Vader? Besides the obvious?"

"He's my father," Luke said.

--

The three little words Luke had uttered took some time to make an impact on Lando. His eyes went impossibly wide.

"Your F-FATHER?" Lando managed to splutter.

Luke just nodded, waiting. If Lando had the strength of character Luke thought he did… A sympathetic hand landed on Luke's shoulder.

"That must not have been fun to find out about," Lando said, his voice grave, "When did you…?"

"He told me himself," Luke replied, Jedi calm surrounding him, "After he cut off my hand."

Lando winced. Leia barely gave him time to recover before speaking, giving Luke a sidelong glance of gratitude that he'd allowed her to bring this part up herself.

"That's not all of it, Lando," Leia said.

"Wait, don't tell me; you and Luke are long-lost twins too, right?" Lando said, trying to joke.

"Wait, who told you?" Leia asked sharply.

"Wait a second - you mean you are?"

A nod was Leia's response. Lando gave her a look of even greater sympathy than he'd given to Luke.

"I guess I should apologize, AGAIN," Lando began, but Leia waved it off.

"That's all in the past now," Leia said.

--

"I still have trouble believing it," Lando said after another moment.

"Although he was Darth Vader while he served the Emperor, now that he's cast off the Dark Side of the Force, Father is Anakin Skywalker again," Luke explained, "But remember, that's still highly classified information."

"Hey, I'm a highly discrete individual," Lando protested.

"So, he's feeling guilty, is that such a bad thing?" Han inquired, sending their conversation back onto its original course, "I mean, it shows he's got a conscious, right? That's good, right?"

Luke gingerly stretched his senses out, seeking his father's presence in the Force. It took him a little while to find Anakin - so tightly was the other's presence wrapped around himself. Underneath that, Luke could feel the sour tang of some harsh inner turmoil. Anakin's reaction to his son's probe - it was an unconscious reaction, since that was the only level of Anakin's mind that had noticed Luke's - was for the Force presence to curl up even tighter.

His father was keeping himself and his Force presence isolated from the rest of the universe - and it was not about sheer guilt.

"Something's wrong," Luke said slowly, "I can sense…I'm not sure what, but there's definitely something wrong."

He looked to Lando.

"Where are his quarters? I need to speak with him."

"Not without us," Leia said sharply.

"I'll take you there myself," Lando said as he turned around, "You know what's really funny? Even before I talked to you today, I had already started liking him a little. I thought that in a weird way, he kinda reminded me of you, Luke. Isn't that just the strangest thing?"

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	8. Hachiban: Number Eight

And here's another chapter!

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Disclaimer: I do not own Star Wars

Claimer: All this plot are belong to me

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He was resting, his mind and its troubles secured behind a strong Force Shield, when the computer system started pinging at him, demanding his attention. Anakin reluctantly allowed himself to return to consciousness.

This oxygen tank unit was even larger than the one on the other flagship, and parsecs bigger than the one on Executor. To the side, a medical maintenance unit held his suit. Right now he was currently lying on a wide bench-like bed. In arm's reach was a very sophisticated computer terminal that would allow him to see everything going on in the half of the large room that the unit did not occupy.

Anakin was not surprised to see both Luke and Calrissian there; he was surprised to see Captain Solo and Leia were with them. Artoo was plugged into the socket by the terminal in that part of the room, but before answering the droid's message Anakin reached out with the tiniest Force probe he could muster. Captain Solo was here just because both Luke and Leia were here, he could see - Solo still didn't like him at all. Leia, on the other hand…she didn't like him anymore then she had when he'd last seen her, but she was infinitely more willing to forgive him now. Not that that was much of an increase.

She also noticed his probe, despite being completely untrained in the Force. Anakin was going to withdraw it immediately, but to his great surprise she merely attempted a clumsy probe back. Touched by the change in her attitude towards him - even one as small as this - he allowed her to sense some of his surface feelings on the matter before withdrawing quietly from her mind and turning his full attention to the computer.

Artoo's message was merely a short inquiry to see if he was there. Anakin made his reply equally to the point.

\\Did you require me for something?\\

Since he was just watching them with visuals, Anakin didn't hear the sudden conversation, but a reply was soon sent back via Artoo.

\\LUKE WANTS TO KNOW WHY YOU ARE MOPING. LANDO AND LEIA ALSO SEEM CONCERNED, AND HAN CLAIMS NOT TO CARE EITHER WAY.\\

There was a pause.

\\SERIOUSLY, ARE YOU ALRIGHT?\\

\\I asked for some time to myself. Mon Mothma approved it,\\ Anakin typed back, noting with half an ear the sharp sound of metal-against-metal as his robotic limb did the typing.

\\TO QUOTE HAN: TWO WEEKS SPENT IN HIDING IS NOT 'TIME TO YOURSELF'. YOU NEED A BETTER EXCUSE. LUKE WANTS TO TALK FACE-TO-FACE. LANDO AND HAN ARE PROBABLY WILLING TO LEAVE IF YOU WANT MORE PRIVACY.\\

Anakin sighed, glancing reluctantly over to the waiting black armor. He did not want to put it on ever again. Well, he could just hook up the voice box…and there was that airlock-type thing…and there was just enough room for one or two other people in here…

\\It's a personal reason,\\ he typed back.

Then, Anakin reached out for Luke's mind with his own.

_/Luke, may I talk to you and Leia alone?/_ He asked quietly.

_/Of course, Father/_ Luke replied instantly.

While Luke explained things on his end, Anakin slowly limped his way over to the suit. The voice box was easy enough to hook up, and he took the black cape and wrapped it around his body, covering himself enough for dignity's sake. He settled back onto the bed in time to watch General Calrissian and Captain Solo leave.

_/Are you going to come out?/ _Luke asked next.

_/…Actually, if you and Leia wanted to, you could both come in here…/_

Anakin began explaining the airlock system. Luke had to tell Leia about the offer and she agreed, albeit warily. Then they had to tell Calrissian and Solo about the slight change in meeting area - something both were instantly curious about - and while Solo made a token protest, in the end it was all agreed. Anakin blanked the monitor and waited while his children entered the 'airlock' - large enough to hold Anakin in full armor, barely, and not quite large enough to hold two people at the same time comfortably - and the cabin air was pumped out of it to be replaced by pure oxygen.

Closing his eyes, Anakin waited. Luke came in first, and while his son's attention was more aimed towards the equipment in the room, both he and Anakin were keeping careful mental tabs on Leia while she stepped inside.

--

There was a sudden burst of shock - she had spotted his armor first - and there was another shock of even greater surprise when Leia looked past Luke and spotted him. Luke, at least, had already seen some of the damage Anakin's body was visibly wearing, but both of them could tell that Leia barely recognized him.

Anakin, on the other hand, was enjoying this opportunity to see both his children with his natural eyes. They were blurred and in dull coloration, but still unmistakable. He could see Padme in both of them.

Once his daughter had gotten her emotions back under control, Anakin activated the voice box and spoke.

"I apologize for the lack of chairs," he began neutrally, "Should either of you feel the need to sit, or to lean on something, please go ahead and do so."

Luke sat cross-legged on the floor after a moment's consideration; Leia leaned against the sound-proofed blast shielding wall. Now Anakin didn't know what to say or do, and without the facemask on it was easy to tell. Leia, the family politician, noticed and began the conversation herself.

"Is there some reason you wanted to talk to us privately…" she hesitated, "Father?"

"…I had been wondering, of late," Anakin said, forcing his face to be expressionless as he spoke, "What your opinion of me has become…Daughter."

He hadn't hesitated on purpose; there was just something about their blood relationship that made him pause. It was only partly due to the fact of the strained nature of their previous relationship. Luke sat quietly, playing the calm observer.

"Well," Leia began, collecting her thoughts, "I suppose I'll be honest. When I first found out…I didn't want to believe it. To know that Darth Vader - that you - were related to me, after what you had done, what you had become…it was not something I welcomed."

Anakin nodded, accepting the harsh words.

"But I've had time to do some thinking since then," Leia continued, "And…I still don't approve of what you did in the name of the Emperor. But you saved Luke's life when the Emperor was killing him. The Darth Vader I used to fight against would not have done that. And I have decided that…that I am willing to give our relationship another chance."

There was relief coming from all three of them after that sentence got into the purified air, and while all three of them managed to conceal the physical expressions of that relief, all three of them could still tell that the others were feeling it anyway.

"Thank you," Anakin said, bowing his head and turning the voice box to low volume in order to whisper.

'_There's still a chance…_'

"Was that all you were worried about, Father?" Luke asked.

Ah, someone had told his son something about Anakin's more recent behavior - Calrissian, most likely - and the edge of worry in Luke's voice was unmistakable. Anakin simply blocked and parried the question as if it was merely another move in a lightsaber duel. It was the way Anakin had gotten through all the political intrigue in the Imperial Court with his sanity intact and the bureaucrats not all Force-Throttled. While he hated political maneuvering, Anakin was a proficient master of many different lightsaber techniques.

"I was not lying when I said I needed some time to myself," Anakin told them both, "To be honest, I'm not used to being around a lot of people all the time."

"I guess not many people in the Imperial Navy wanted to hang around with you," Luke said, trying to lighten the mood slightly.

"The constant threat of omnipresent death does make people a tad skittish," Leia observed dryly.

Blinking at the twin's sudden laughter, Anakin was surprised to find himself chuckling as well, even though it was hard to do so around the voice-piece in his mouth. Gallows humor was another thing that ran in the family, it seemed.

"A significant lack of spine," Anakin said once the laughter had ended, "Has always been the hallmark of the Imperial Fleet."

Leia and Luke both thought about that and nodded. It was more true than ever, since as they spoke the Empire was steadily collapsing from within.

"So," Luke said after another short while, "When are you planning to come out of hibernation, Father?"

"Perhaps after another nap," Anakin replied as the other two stood to go, "What are your plans to be?"

"To find a bed, commandeer it, and then sleep in it for the next galactic standard year or so," Luke replied with a yawn, "Command is harder than I thought it would be."

"I could have told you that," Leia said to him.

"Yeah, but you're the diplomat," Luke explained, "Why should I complain about my job to you, when yours is so much worse?"

Leia huffed and stomped into the airlock, but she wasn't actually mad. Luke gave Anakin a grin before he stepped into the airlock himself. As the door sealed itself behind them, Anakin switched off the voice box and moved to replace it with the rest of his equipment. He felt more relaxed right now then he had since…the last time he'd flown a Racing Pod, maybe.

Or the time before the last time, when all he had to worry about was Watto yelling at him for crashing the Pod up if he lost.

Hmm. Now that he thought about it…was Pod Racing still banned? Would it really have effected anything if Darth Vader had raced Pods on the side? Could he still _fit_ into one? Wondering about the dimensions of a Pod needed to fit a fully armored Darth Vader felt much better than brooding about past events that he couldn't change - no matter how badly Anakin's mind and soul had been warped by those events - and he decided to take his children's example.

Now the question was, would Republic Command let him fly one of their snubfighters?

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	9. Kuuban: Number Nine

I'm very glad everyone seems to be enjoying my fic (even if you don't understand it), so here for your continued enjoyment is the next chapter. Please bear in mind that I'm actually writing this story along the Star Wars timeline, so some parts may be slightly boring.

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Disclaimer: George Lucas is not me, therefore I do not own Star Wars

Claimer: I am myself, therefore the plot is mine

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The answer to that was a hesitant no.

'Hesitant' because Anakin was still, had always been, and at the rate he was going, would forever be a beyond exceptional pilot. The New Republic needed all the good pilots it could get its hands on. And no because someone had finally spilled the beans on Darth Vader's little change of heart back on the Second Death Star, and Anakin had a price on his head.

Anakin was actually slightly impressed when he heard how much he was worth: it was bigger than the one Anakin had had out for Luke almost a year ago.

Former Grand Vizier and now self-proclaimed Galactic Emperor Sate Pestage had issued the bounty personally, attempting to capitalize on Vader's betrayal of Palpatine to help shore up his own _very_ shaky position. As well as deter any Imperial push to have Darth Vader crowned as the new Emperor in place of himself. It was almost amusing and a little scary to discover Imperial forces that felt more loyalty to a Lord of a Sith then a well-respected government official. Not that Pestage was respected that much to begin with…

After a great deal of argument, Anakin and the rest of the Republic command staff reached a compromise. Many would-be fighter pilots were joining the New Republic every day…so Anakin would be the one to test their skills, to make certain they were worth handing fighters. And it was all going to be done in the total and complete safety of the Alderaan's simulators, of course.

Well, it could have been worse, so Anakin tried to put his best effort into the job. And it didn't hurt that there were more than a few pilots that made themselves slightly more difficult kills - plus all of them got such interesting expressions when they heard 'Darth Vader' praising them as such.

Luke could have done this job, but he was getting piled with more and more commands. Although Anakin sympathized with his son, the fact that he got to pilot at least the **simulation** of a one-man fighter meant he wasn't too keen on the idea of switching places with Luke.

--

After another three months had passed, though, Anakin was fully fed up with fake ships. In the aftermath of the capture of Brentaal, a large part of the Fleet was in-system, including both the _Alderaan_ and the aging _Headquarters Frigate_, which despite no longer being actual Fleet command had kept the old name. And her commanding officer, Admiral Ackbar, seemed to enjoy the confusion the name caused.

Anakin sent his compliments to the Admiral, and asked for a meeting. He took a shuttle over to the Headquarters Frigate the next morning, and much to Anakin's surprise Ackbar himself was at the shuttle bay to meet him.

"I hope I am not disrupting anything," Anakin began politely as he and Ackbar moved from the crowed bay and down a side corridor.

"Of course not," Ackbar gurgled back.

Then, when they were out of earshot of the rest of the ship's crew, Ackbar asked in a much too pleasant voice, "Getting bored with Recruitment, Colonel?"

"It's not entirely unpleasant, Admiral," Anakin replied, "It's the small fact that the ships aren't real that is my main concern."

"Well, you need to understand the concerns the Provisional Council has, Lord Vader," Ackbar said, switching the name he used as they passed some Mon Calamarian technicians, "If you were to be shot down and captured by say, the Empire, the repercussions would be immense on both sides."

Anakin 'harrumphed' at the very idea.

"They would have to shoot me down first," Anakin said huffily, "And that is _**extremely**_ unlikely to happen."

"I know that, and so does every single pilot you've ever run a sim against - but none of them are on the Provisional Council."

"They are not…but you are," Anakin pointed out.

"I am only one voice in eight," Ackbar sighed, "And there is the matter of politics to consider. Certainly Mon Mothma would support the idea, and I think Councilor Organa would as well, but then there is Borsk Fey'lya to consider."

Ackbar paused to observe a section of the ship undergoing repair, and Anakin waited quietly for him to continue.

"Borsk has already sunken his claws into some of the others - so now they will not support what Borsk Fey'lya does not support - and you might as well know," Ackbar added, "He has called for motions to put you on a war trial a few times already. 'Intergalactic Villain' is one of the nicer things he has said about you."

"That happens to be one of the nicest things anyone has ever said about me," Anakin remarked, eyeing the nearby repair crew as he spoke.

One of the technicians nearby was a Bothan, and while Ackbar might not have noticed it, the tech was listening to their conversation very carefully. Anakin could already tell that this one reported indirectly to the acclaimed Fey'lya, but truth be told, Anakin didn't really care that much.

The two of them moved on.

"It will take some maneuvering," Ackbar said at length, "But I believe I can convince the Council."

"For a price."

Anakin had seen this part coming the whole conversation.

"It is more like a favor," Ackbar corrected with a wave of his webbed hands, "Actually, I was planning to ask you about this before you even contacted me. The New Republic captured several high-ranking Imperial soldiers during our liberation of Brentaal."

"Pestage must have been insane to leave that idiot Isoto in command of the system," Anakin commented.

"Perhaps," Ackbar said with a shrug, "But that makes it all the more to our advantage. As I was saying, we captured several Imperials during the attack - including one of the 181st Imperial Fighter Group. Ever since that one was captured, he's been refusing to say a word to anyone. I was told you might be able to assist us about that."

"A pilot of the One-Hundred-Eighty-First?" Anakin repeated, incredulous.

The single best group of TIE pilots in the whole Empire? They'd been at Brentaal and the whole system had still been lost? Isoto was an even greater incompetent than Anakin remembered him being!

"Do you have his name?" Anakin asked next.

"Well, as I said he refuses to talk, but according to his identification, he's a native of Corellia that goes by the name Baron Fel."

--

Anakin stopped dead in his tracks at that name.

"Baron _Soontir_ Fel? You captured the _leader_ of the 181st Fighter Group?"

"Why Lord Vader," Ackbar said as he stopped as well, "You sound surprised. Is this Fel person an acquaintance of yours?"

Anakin collected his thoughts as best he could; but the New Republic had Baron Fel in their grasp and they didn't even know what they had! It was astounding!

"Baron Soontir Fel," Anakin said in a methodical manner, "Is the single greatest TIE Fighter pilot in the Galactic Empire. I used to keep an eye on his career and I have yet to see a TIE Fighter pilot that has impressed me more. This is the equivalent of finding a second Crix Madine, although I believe this one may not be as willing to defect."

Ackbar's eyes widened, somehow - Anakin wasn't familiar with Mon Calamarian physiology - and he became very excited.

"What a marvelous thing," the Admiral gurgled, "I had no idea - I will need to speak to the other Council members of two fighter pilots now."

With a quick goodbye, Ackbar rushed off to get to work on whatever plan his mind had just concocted, leaving Anakin to make his way back to his shuttle. Anakin didn't hear anything else for the next two days, but on the third day he received a message and an armed shuttlecraft. The message was brief and to the point, simply stating that until further notice, a certain Imperial prisoner was going to be placed into 'Lord Vader's' custody. The shuttlecraft was armed to prevent any sort of rescue attempts by the Empire to retrieve the prisoner - who was one Baron Soontir Fel.

--

When Fel was taken out of the shuttle, hands in binders and escorted by a pair of guards, he kept his expression carefully neutral, even as Anakin's black-armored personage approached him.

"Lord Vader," Fel greeted Anakin in a neutral tone of voice.

The guards seemed unusually tense, but whether it was because of their prisoner, the one their prisoner was speaking to, or a combination of the two was hard to determine. Anakin tipped his head slightly to acknowledge Fel before moving on to the guards. One was a human and the other was a Bothan.

"Lord Vader, the Admiral sends his compliments," the Bothan guard said gruffly as he fished a data pad out and handed it to Anakin.

Ignoring the way the Bothan was avoiding touching his mechanical hand, Anakin glanced over the orders. Ackbar wanted him to keep an eye on Fel until the Provisional Council had decided what to do with him…and oh, see if he couldn't run Fel in the simulator a few times. Anakin allowed himself a smile, even though it was painful, and wiped the orders out of the pad's memory before handing it back.

"Very well," Anakin told the guards, "You may both leave now."

"Lord Vader, we have been assigned to guard this prisoner," the human one protested.

Anakin turned his head towards the human, and the man quailed nearly imperceptibly. But Anakin-as-Vader had spent a lot of his free time devising ways to scare those under his command better. The ones with a hidden agenda always scared easier than the ones just doing their jobs. And they tried to hide it more as well. Probably due to their fear of the invisible 'justice' of a Sith Lord, Anakin supposed.

His practiced eye told Anakin that this human reported to someone else besides his commanding officers. The Bothan, on the other hand, just didn't like Darth Vader very much.

"I understand your concerns," Anakin said, pretending to be considering something, "Very well."

Anakin pointed to the Bothan and said, "You will stay here to guard."

Anakin then turned back to the human.

"Is that acceptable, soldier?" Anakin asked, letting his sarcasm show.

The human guard wasn't that stupid, and just nodded before heading back to the shuttle. His hidden master was going to get a sorry report on this matter…but Anakin didn't care. He turned back to Fel.

"If you would come with me?" Anakin asked, making certain it was coming across as a request.

"Do I have a choice?" Fel asked.

"There is always a choice," Anakin replied, voice calm and serene.

Fel took a moment to think about that, before consenting to give the barest of nods and stepping forward. As the trio began walking, Anakin had to work to keep himself from laughing when he realized exactly how he'd defused Fel's initial resistance to being in 'Vader's' presence; good old fashioned Jedi Double-Speak, or 'Muddle-speak' as Anakin had always called his Master's cryptic way of talking. Obi-Wan had rubbed off on him more than he'd thought.

The guard dropped behind, going to where he could get a clear shot at either of the other two if the situation called for it. Fel walked a deliberately slow pace, and Anakin matched it as he guided them on a meandering route through this deck of the Alderaan. Nothing an enemy prisoner wouldn't expect in a Imperial class Destroyer on this level anyway.

"I presume," Fel began, "That the Rebel command sent me to you in the hopes that you would get me to start answering some of their questions."

"I believe that someone proposed this to facilitate that intention," Anakin replied, understanding how other's intuition was nearly as deadly as the lightsaber blade Anakin was mentally approximating it with, "As for myself, I am firstly more curious of the current status of the Empire."

"Very well," Fel said in a tone that faked the casual banter between pilots of the same unit, "You might be interested to know the Empire is crumbling faster every day. Pestage and the Ruling Council are at each other's throats constantly, while Director Isard's attempts to mediate barely contain either side from all-out attack."

"Intelligence Director Isard," Anakin mused aloud, "I have heard of her, though I have yet to meet her personally."

"Otherwise, the daily news in Imperial Center is just reports on which officers have left the Empire to carve out personal kingdoms since the previous day."

Nothing New Republic Intelligence hadn't already known about, but there was an undercurrent of personal disgust in Baron Fel's mannerisms as he spoke of the Empire's current situation. It reminded Anakin of General Madine, actually.

"Lord Vader," Fel asked, his sudden interest nearly catching Anakin's sense off-guard, "Did you betray the Empire, as Pestage claims?"

"I would first like to understand what you believe betrayal of the Empire to be, Pilot Fel," Anakin said.

They continued walking as Fel gathered his thoughts, which didn't take very long.

"Betrayal of the Empire is when there is betrayal of the ideals of the New Order," Fel said at length, "That is, if one only seeks power for power's sake, while ignoring the suffering of the peoples you took an oath to protect. That is how I define betrayal."

Anakin mused over this, and decided to go for broke.

"Would it interest you to learn that that is the same definition of betrayal used by the old Jedi Order?"

"And you destroyed the Jedi Order, from what I've been able to learn," Fel retorted.

"In that sense, yes, I am a traitor, and quite guilty of betrayal," Anakin agreed, "And that is why I am able to say for certain that I personally did not betray the ideals of the New Order, but that the Empire itself did so. How else has it managed to crumble so spectacularly in such a short amount of time?"

Fel's eyes narrowed as he processed this. Then, slowly, the pilot nodded, filling Anakin with relief that he'd been able to figure it out correctly. Fel had already seen this for himself, but he had wanted to be convinced of the fact. While Anakin's skill at reading people had always needed work, Baron Fel was a fighter pilot with nearly the same mentality as himself, making things that much easier. Now it was simply a matter of convincing the New Republic that Baron Fel was truly and fully willing to defect.

"What is to become of me now?" Fel asked.

"I have been assigned to 'keep an eye on you'," Anakin quoted, "And therefore, I believe you may need to accompany me to my, ahem, 'new' job, for the time being. You may even find it of interest."

The three of them crammed into a turbolift as Anakin spoke, and as an afterthought Anakin made a small grabbing motion with his left hand. Fel's binders unlocked themselves and flew over to land in Anakin's hand. The Bothan guard's fur bristled, but it was more because of the implied statement that a guard was not necessary then the fact that Anakin had 'freed' the prisoner.

Come to think of it, Fel shouldn't have been wearing binders in the first place - official orders were that this was a pilot which had been 'assigned' to Anakin's care, not that he was a prisoner being put under Vader's guard. Ackbar's orders would have said so otherwise. Calmly moving the binders from his left hand to his right, Anakin snapped them in half. Fel raised an eyebrow, but neither he or the guard said anything.

--

Inside was a tiny tracking chip, complete with its emitter, and neither of which was supposed to be inside a pair of binders in the first place. At this development Fel looked surprised, but Anakin just ground the chip into dust before exiting the turbolift, the other two in tow, and headed for where the simulators waited.

--

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	10. Juuban: Number Ten

Thank you for your wonderful feedback. Unfortunately, this will be the last chapter for a long while.

A full explanation will be posted in my Bio.

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Disclaimer: I do not own Star Wars

Claimer: I own this plotline

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Baron Soontir Fel was welcomed with open arms into the New Republic Military - and to a post with Rogue Squadron as well - within a week. Anakin remained on the _Alderaan_ for just over another week before a new, unusual set of circumstances finally got him transferred to a slightly more interesting line of action.

Anakin would later muse that he'd have felt more appreciative of those circumstances had they been anything else but assassination attempts. On him.

--

At first, it was confined to a series of near-fatal 'accidents' - a shuttle overcorrected during its landing procedures and almost squashed him in the landing bay, a blast door malfunctioned and nearly crushed Anakin as he walked underneath it - but then whoever was engineering these attempts decided to step the pace up a notch.

In the flight simulator, the unit that Anakin usually operated overloaded and exploded for no apparent reason, partially blinding and nearly killing the poor A-wing pilot that had gotten there first to get a little extra practice time logged in.

And a package from the quartermaster's office exploded with devastating effects on the corridor it was in when it was jostled too much by the delivery droid, who was taking it to the destination on its label - Anakin's quarters.

And the most recent one came as Anakin was entering the oxygen tank in his room, a place he had always thought of as safe. Someone had pumped out all the purified oxygen and replaced it with a mixture of a little cabin air and a lot of chlorine gas, and Anakin had accidentally inhaled some of the concoction before he realized what was wrong and managed to slap his helmet seals back into place.

That quick action hadn't kept Anakin from collapsing as the mixture of gases did their best to kill him, but since he'd managed to crawl back to the corridor before that point, one of the _Alderaan's_ non-homicidal crew members had found him quickly enough to summon help.

Which was why when Luke came by the next day, he found his Father stuck in an oxygen tent in the Medical Bay, under the constant watch of several medical droids and some other security staff, while his tank area was being decontaminated and the suit's air filters were being flushed.

Naturally, Luke became most upset by this turn of events.

And through him, word soon got out to the leaders of the New Republic Military that some person or persons was attempting to bring about the death of Darth Vader. Luke was even able to find the person who had sabotaged the tank and the simulator…just in time to find the human guard from Baron Fel's arrival dying, thanks to a quick-acting and self-ingested poison. And then the investigation on the guard got side-tracked when Luke was assigned yet another command post and had to leave again.

As soon as he had recovered, Anakin transferred from the _Alderaan_ to the much smaller Star Cruiser _Crusader_, through which a large part of the New Republic's captured Imperial military hardware was being processed. The Crusader's commander, a rather brash and fearless to the point of extremely reckless human Captain called Tallo Vorn, had been badgering Fleet Command for someone experienced with Imperial technology for quite some time now, and didn't seem too bothered when he got Anakin.

Captain Vorn was young, headstrong, and a perfect example of the sort of person the Empire should have had commanding its ships from the beginning: he was also the classic teenage rebel, and one that had managed to find a cause willing to tolerate him - and that was probably because Tallo Vorn was extremely good at his job.

Right away Vorn had Anakin start working with the dozens of technicians and test pilots and other miscellaneous personnel that called the _Crusader_ home. They managed to accept their new arrival after a day or two, and Anakin managed to baffle them all with his enthusiastic participation in their myriad projects. They were, after all, some of the best mechanically and electronically inclined individuals working for the New Republic - recruited straight from their previous, sometimes less-than-legal jobs on the outskirts of civilized space.

What especially endeared Anakin to them was his repair abilities. They promptly handed him some of their biggest projects, all having to do with captured ships needing extensive overhaul. Anakin couldn't remember the last time he'd enjoyed himself this much. And the Crusader hopped from system to system nearly constantly, spending more time in hyperspace or the edges of the Outer Rim than anyplace else and coincidently making it that much harder for anybody after Anakin's life to find him.

--

Time passed quickly. One day Anakin woke to the realization that it had been two whole years since the battle at Endor. Reports from the main parts of the New Republic had been sketchy lately, but from what Anakin had been able to gather the New Republic was almost ready to strike at Imperial Center. The last of Palpatine's Grand Admirals had recently defected, his son had been made a full General - and had subsequently resigned his commission six months later - and Pestage had been dead for over a year, rendering the bounty on Anakin null.

This morning, Anakin donned his suit and squeezed out of the tiny closet of a room he'd been given on the Crusader - with its air tank that was even smaller than the old one on his long-gone _Executor_ - to find one of his co-technicians waiting in the corridor for him. Not pausing to contemplate the sudden mental image of Darth Vader being downsized to the rank of engineer, Anakin greeted the other, a Gand who called himself Silas Guum.

"Health and good fortune go with you," Silas Guum replied, "Silas Guum was been wondering if a proposition he has is acceptable to you."

"What proposition is that?" Anakin asked as the two of them walked down the corridor.

"Silas Guum has noticed your suit's range of functions are entirely medical," Silas explained, "And Silas Guum has been working with medical technology for many years so far. Does Friend Vader desire to involve himself in an experiment Silas Guum has concocted?"

"Experiment?" Anakin echoed, curious, "What sort of experiment?"

"Silas Guum wishes to see if he can repair Friend Vader, as Friend Vader has repaired much of all other's equipment. Is Friend Vader willing to attempt this?"

Anakin paused in his steps, Silas Guum pausing right alongside of him, as the exact nature of Silas's request took shape for him.

"Si - Friend Guum," Anakin said sharply, barely remembering to use the honorific 'Friend' so as to not offend the other, "You wish to **repair** me?"

"That is a fact," Silas Gumm replied.

"It's a foolish idea," Anakin said, "The best medical services in the Galactic Republic tried to 'repair' me, as you so put it - and the best that they could do was create this suit."

Anakin indicated his armor as the two of them continued forward. Silas seemed to mull over this fact before dismissing it.

"Where Old Republic failed, Silas Guum and the New Republic may succeed," the Gand said forcefully, "Be not so unreasonable, Friend Vader. If there is failure, no worse off shall you be. Friend Vader must understand, this is a _gift_ that Silas Guum wishes to give to him."

"A gift?"

"Yes," Silas Guum said, "Silas Guum is young, and has only heard of the Galactic Empire as the hive to which all evil gathers, and where no light can shine. But Friend Vader has demonstrated that there is light in that hive, hidden light, buried and needing to be awakened in its lantern. Silas Guum will one day soon return home to be initiated in the ways of the Findsman, and when he is a Findsman Silas Guum wishes to find that light. If not for the mere presence of Friend Vader, Silas Guum would still be a drifting leaf, lost in the wind with no purpose. Will Friend Vader not accept this gift, on which Silas Guum has worked long and hard?"

Speechless after hearing the Gand's eloquent explanation, Anakin couldn't do anything less then agree to Silas's experiment. 'Friends' did weird things like this for each other, right?

--

Right?

--

It had been a while since Anakin had been around anyone he considered a friend, but it felt right in the Force. Silas's Force signature lit up with delight when he heard Anakin's agreement.

"Wonderful! The repairs must go in stages, and so the most badly damaged areas should be first. Silas Guum will focus on Friend Vader's lungs and the worst burns, he thinks."

"…Friend Guum," Anakin said after another moment, "May I ask how you know which are my worst injuries?"

"Ah," Silas Guum replied calmly, "Honorable Dedocri made inquiries on the behalf of Silas Guum."

Dedocri was the Verpine slicer working currently onboard the Crusader…it figured.

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	11. Juuichiban: Number Eleven

Will you look at that...it only took me months of work and rewrites to get this chapter ready for you all to enjoy.

(Which, by the way, I hope you do.)

Updates will still be slow, so a thousand apologies to anyone whose hopes got raised too high.

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Disclaimer: George Lucas owns Star Wars, not me. That's right, I am not the property of George Lucas! XD

Claimer: I own the plot and Silas Guum!

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Silas's invention was very unusual, even to look upon. If a stasis tube, a carbon-freezing unit, and a parachute had gotten together and had a child, Anakin imagined, the result would probably look something like this machine. Not that that bothered him.

What bothered Anakin the most was the simple fact that this medical monstrosity sat in _plain sight_ in the hanger, and was in fact right next to Anakin's latest piece of repair work, a Skipray Blastboat. How he'd managed to miss _this_, Anakin would probably never know.

By all appearances, he and Silas were the only ones in the hanger. Anakin chose to ignore the fact that practically the entire ship's compliment was hiding near the hanger doors and watching.

"Silas Guum calls her the 'Re-Gen Tank'," Silas explained, "Very lovely, isn't she?"

"One-of-a-kind, for certain," Anakin replied, trying to avoid offending the Gand.

Certainly, Silas took it for a compliment. After some fiddling with the controls, the hatch to the stasis-tube part of the Re-Gen Tank yawned open.

"Friend Vader will need to do nothing but sleep through the procedure," Silas said, "It will take less than many hours, and Silas Guum has worked carefully to prevent Friend Vader from receiving damage to his armored suit."

For a moment, Anakin felt suspicious. How easy would it be to put his body in this machine, and then have it 'malfunction'? But it only took one glance at Silas Guum settled his worries. The Gand's eager willingness to help was such that you could almost see the waves of Light-Side energy pulsing off into the Force.

It was dark in the Tank when the door was closed. Anakin felt a slight prick, and felt his mind drift away, even as some sort of liquid started filling the chamber…

--

Weird. It almost felt like he was in a different place now. And he certainly didn't seem to be in the tank anymore…so either this was a dream, or he was dead and 'One-with-the-Force' now. Anakin decided to stick with the 'dream' theory until proven otherwise. A filmstrip of events was passing through his mind.

He was watching Luke flying his X-wing in battle, switching off the computer and trusting his aim to the Force…

…Geonosis! His hearing was drowning in the roar that mixed blasterfire, lightsaber hums, and the screaming of all those caught up in the total free-for-all…

…Party in the trees. Little Ewoks and tall Rebels, all celebrating the explosion in the sky above…

…Watto. The Toydarian was screaming in Huttese, raging over the twisted hulk of metal that used to be a podracer. So what if the driver had survived the crash without so much as a scratch? Parts cost **far** more than did little slaves…

_…A faint figure. Strange, in strange armor, and wielding a weapon that moved of its own accord…was it alive? Was it all alive? But where was the **Force** in this being?_

--

Anakin was jerked back to awareness when someone rapped on his helmet. Everything was still black, but when he hastily tripped the restart on his basic helmet systems Anakin was relieved to see everything worked fine.

"Many apologies, Friend Vader," came Silas Guum's voice, "Silas Guum was unable to finish certain repairs with Friend Vader's helmet was working. It is not damaged?"

Blinking behind the lenses, Anakin waited a moment before replying, "Unless Captain Vorn is NOT currently waving his hand in front of my face, I believe it is all in good working order."

Tallo Vorn had the decency to grin sheepishly, before offering Anakin a hand out of the tube. Outside, Anakin looked himself over carefully. Except for the fluid dripping on the deck - it was green and for some reason made Anakin think of chlorophyll - he looked very much the same.

Then he noticed the pulsing mass of **Force** centered in his chest.

"Re-Gen fluids remain within the damaged areas and assist in the fixing," Silas Guum explained as Vorn handed Anakin a large towel, "Already there will be improvements, but Friend Vader must unfortunately continue use of his suit for a while longer. Until all is corrected, some parts will be a little overly sensitive."

"Well, Guum," Vorn said, "I can't say much for the looks, but I think the Med Corps are going to be VERY happy to take a look at your little toy."

--

Vorn was more accurate then he realized: a week later the _Crusader_ had moved from Brentaal to the newly liberated Coruscant in order to transfer the Re-Gen Tank over for study. Anakin was also brought over for a quick study.

He didn't need any medical droids to explain things for him, though. He could easily feel how the dead material that once constituted as his lungs was coming back to life, cell by cell. He was pleasantly surprised to learn that the reason the rest of his old injuries felt better was that the mere presence of the Re-Gen fluid had neatly jump-started the rest of his body's healing abilities.

Eventually, Anakin wouldn't need the suit at all. That was a day he was definitely going to look forward to. As it stood for the moment, everything was going his way.

--

Or so he thought.

--

* * *


	12. Juuniban: Number Twelve

As promised, the chance to watch Episode III has allowed me to continue work on the fic.

Chapters may come slowly but they should come steadly...thank you all for being so patient with me!

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Disclaimer: See previous chapters

Claimer: See previous chapters

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The planet-wide race riots that started soon afterwards kind of suggested that things weren't quite as rosy as they had seemed to be on the surface of things.

Apparently taking advantage of the fact that the current people in charge weren't all overpowered Sith Lords or humanistic military drones, both the human and the surprisingly ample nonhuman population of Coruscant had decided that now was the time to strike back at those who had benefited from their previous oppression. And it wasn't like cunning old Palpatine had done anything to them for personal reasons, Anakin knew - the wily Master Sith had never let anything as petty as THAT dictate his actions…

The unfortunate truth was that of all the sentient species in the known galaxy, humans were both the most widely spread and considerably one of the most xenophobic.

Palpatine had merely been taking advantage of his own species…the same way he'd lovingly taken advantage of everyone and everything else.

--

And normally, Anakin would have kept _that_ one banished from his thoughts, but it was kind of impossible **not** to be reminded of him when staying in spitting distance from the Imperial Palace, and sticking with plain and simple denial just wasn't worth the headache.

With the price on his head void, someone in the New Republic command base had believed Darth Vader would be safe in the bustling city-world of Coruscant.

Or else, the _Jedi-turned-Sith-turned-Jedi-again_ figured in his more cynical moments, someone in the New Republic command base had _planned_ on all this happening.

But despite Darth Vader's reputation in the Imperial military of being something along the lines of 'an alien-loving fruitcake' - the fool responsible for stating this remark in Darth Vader's hearing had been thusly spaced, minus a suit - the complex he was staying in was one of the places most often visited by angry mobs.

All the vicious groups ever spawned in the ample bowels of Coruscant were coming out of the woodwork for this chance at mayhem. So naturally, SOMEONE had to retaliate.

This time, Anakin noted as he exited the building and listened, the sound of blasters being shot at each other was actually a few more buildings away than usual. While this distance was an improvement, the scuffles between the newly re-minted Coruscant Security Agency and everyone else on the planet with a blaster was getting REALLY tiresome in its third straight week.

Even the trick of simultaneously yanking every armed being in the fighting off their feet and onto their backsides - or whatever they had that served as such - was, despite its constant effectiveness at ending such firefights, losing its amusing appeal.

The security people that insisted on following him around and fumblingly 'protecting' him were used to such occurrences, and when a randomly thrown explosive - homemade - was halted in midair and magically dissembled into its composite parts just a few moments later, they only scoured the aircar three times without comment before 'allowing' Anakin to get on board.

'_Coming back here was _not_ a good idea_,' Anakin admitted to himself when the whole merry group of them had finally gotten under way.

Taking back Coruscant was the best and worse thing the New Republic could have done. The cityworld was THE symbol of government, and having long since lost almost all its native lifeforms, in theory all the sentient life in the galaxy could view this as a sort-of homeworld. In practice, it turned out that most sentient life had evolved on completely different planets from each other because not a lot of them could stand each other.

At least this visit wouldn't be going on for much longer: the meeting Anakin was traveling to concerned a 'possible shift of assignment, possibly to a more visible spot…with only a _slight_ issue of that being on the front lines…'

It was doubtful he'd get anything like his old _Executor_, though - the New Republic wasn't **that** settled in to its new executive powers.

--

Unfortunately, the meeting started off on an unpleasant beat; the representative from the Council just so happened to be one Borsk Fey'lya.

"Well, well…it was so **gracious** of you to bestow upon us a moment of your time, _Lord_ Vader," Borsk sneered from his seat on the opposite side of the table.

There were some other people present, aides and military personnel, but they might as well have not existed. Anakin hadn't been graced with such utter loathing since…since…damn flash-burned memories…ah yes, since that snaky Falleen 'Prince' Xizor.

'_I wouldn't mind blowing THIS fool up with his skyhook either_,' Anakin found himself maliciously noting.

But Fey'lya was just trying a cheap shot. Anakin could ignore it, and enjoy thinking of how childishly the other was acting instead.

"Of course, Councilor," Anakin replied, keeping his tone level, "I live to serve."

"Anyway, I **presume** you know why you are here? Good," the Bothan continued, not bothering to wait for any replies, "For the moment, Vader, you are going to be assigned to a squad in Fleet Group Two…"

Fey'lya managed to drone on and on for another fifteen minutes, spending most of that time emphasizing that it was only a temporary posting which he believed Vader would never be able to handle without going back to the Empire, all of which was said in such a rude tone that the ex-Sith was _almost_ tempted to shove the Councilor's foot into his mouth to shut him up…via the rest of his body.

It was only AFTER Fey'lya finally left that one of the others present, a Lieutenant Da-something-or-other, actually gave Anakin his official orders, which used notably less words than the Bothan.

Apparently, Darth Vader was still considered the most trusted person in the Galactic Empire's command structure, because plenty of Imperials - sometimes even whole Imperial systems - were naming his example as their reason to defect to the Republic. Unsurprisingly, Supreme Commander Ackbar had gotten it into his head that having 'Darth Vader' physically present would speed the process up dramatically.

Also unsurprisingly, despite being 'assigned' a squadron to command, Anakin would have to create and train one from scratch, since no one with experience seemed to be _available_…Anakin had a good idea who had assured it would be that way as well.

This did not aid him in suppressing a near-irresistible desire to find and seriously damage the person responsible. His surprisingly strong irritation on the matter lingered, even as Anakin was leaving the room.

--

At the same instant, a nearby pad suddenly twisted into itself, cracking the device beyond repair and terrifying the aide who had been in the middle of using it.

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	13. Juusanban: Number Thirteen

Please forgive the lateness of this update.

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A few...'complications' arose, the least of which being that a review listing (I quote) **my mistakes**, which also managed to both kill my muse and leave me depressed for a week or so. And no, I'm not kidding.

'the Maelstrom', do us all a favor and never review my fic again.

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Personal issues aside, the chapters following this one may be a little long in coming, but only because of some storyline issues (as far as I know of at this time).

So please, try and enjoy what's here in the meantime!

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Disclaimer: Authoress does not own Star Wars

Claimer: Authoress owns this plotline and all original characters encased therein

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_…A lonely pillar stood in a dark place. Once, perhaps, this had been a thriving land, bright and full of life, but what had been here before had since burned to the ground and been destroyed long ago, save this final monument. And only in this very spot did there remain any light at all - indeed, the pillar itself was the source of the glow. Faint and nearly failing it once had been, but now it was a shining beacon of brilliance…but tendrils of hurt and angry darkness circled the base, hungering for a chance to rise up and take back -_

--

A flash of red lightning brought Anakin out of his momentary stupor. In the nick of time, too - a brake and a slide to the left later, the fighter who had dared try to flash-fry him was space dust.

"Krayt Two to Krayt Lead - oh wait, never mind. You already got him," crackled a voice on his com.

"Tighten your flight path, Krayt Two," Anakin replied.

Because there was a lull in the battle at this point, Anakin even went so far as to add: "In theory, your covering of me involves some work on your part."

Krayt Two gave a curt laugh.

"_What_ work? You could win this by yourself in your sleep, Boss Lordy Sir. I would do more work filing my transfer request form," Krayt Two chortled.

'_Dugs…smart-mouths of the whole galaxy_,' Anakin mentally sighed.

Then again, it was probably a miracle that Anakin's 'squadron' existed at all off paper, so he could probably take whatever remarks his 'squadron mates' could dish out. If it took dealing with annoying, self-absorbed, and egotistical fighter pilots of a race he had good reason to mistrust to keep things going, Anakin would buckle down and do it. Plus, it didn't hurt that he could easily out-fly most of his pilots.

And treading on the oversized egos of others only made more room for other, more useful things…like air, or brainpower. Brainpower was at a premium these days - the force of the New Republic's drive to reabsorb the territory that had once comprised the Galactic Republic was starting to lose some of its momentum. For every lone defecting Imperial, another whole Imperial system had reorganized and was pushing back its unwanted intruders.

As far as Anakin was concerned, this trend was extremely ominous. If the Empire was getting back on its feet, that meant someone was actually in charge - _really_ in charge. A feat Palpatine had only managed because he'd been the designer behind the Empire in the first place. And yet here Anakin was, stuck in dogfights with overly motivated Imperials.

Shrugging everything else off as minor concerns - they would just have to wait until he wasn't in such obvious straits - Anakin signaled to the rest of his squadron to form up. Unable to help himself, Anakin allowed one more frivolous thought to cross his mind: Wouldn't some consider his naming of his personal squadron after the most dangerous predator of his childhood a sign of the Dark Side?

"Lead, I'm getting a fallback signal from the _Redeemed_," Krayt Five - a human - reported, "Cross and Blade Squadrons have already retreated, and Stripe Squadron is down to a shield trio."

"Again," Krayt Two snickered, "While we remain vastly unharmed…"

"Cut the chatter," Anakin snapped, "We're falling back as ordered. Vector three-aught-five, mark ten."

"Through the space between the two Victory ships? Where all the enemy TIEs are?"

That surprisingly timid voice was Krayt Four - a soft-spoken Chadra-Fan who had been _just_ as surprised to pass Anakin's qualification tests as Anakin himself had been.

"Through the space between where all the TIEs are," Anakin replied calmly.

The two Victory Destroyers had seen better days - the reason they were guarding this basically useless system - and the TIEs were basic, unshielded models with no exceptionally skilled pilots. The _Redeemed_, a Carrack cruiser, was a large speck in the distance.

"Two and Four, you're with me. Three, Five, and Eight, veer on starboard. Six, Seven, Nine, take the center."

"Roger Lead," came the chorus of voices.

"At last, **work!**" Krayt Two made a point of sneering as they soared into the fray, engines screaming.

--

A little perk of being known as Darth Vader was being able to fly fighters built to your personal specifications. A captured TIE plant had almost eagerly taken the assignment - wanting to prove itself to its new owners - and Krayt Squadron had proudly demonstrated the power of the TIE Saber in their first taste of combat, shaming the TIE Advanced models they'd dealt with to no end.

And the pilots had been chosen with the fighter in mind…even though Five showed signs of stress burnout already, this squadron was Anakin's pride and joy. Luke wasn't the only Skywalker capable of forming a powerful fighter wing…his Krayts would definitely give the Rogues a run for their money.

At the same time that this passed through his mind, Anakin's fighter was dancing through the enemy screen, dealing death to every TIE that happened in his sights.

Two and Four were racking up kills…Four was ahead of Two, something the Dug was working to correct. The other six were doing as well as could be expected from them - the center trio had already broken clear - and here was a space, albeit he'd nearly be able to touch the port Destroyer going past, and -

--

Something happened. Something impossible to put words to at first, but afterwards and with great difficulty Anakin would be able to describe it.

It was the end of the universe.

--

All of space and creation _collapsed_, shrinking to some infinitely dense point somewhere in the back of his head, and he was left behind to drown in vacuum - he'd gone deaf and dumb and blind and ithurtsoMUCH - he was _suffocating_ -

--

"Lead! Lead! Please answer me!"

Four's panicked voice shook Anakin back from whatever hell he'd visited in his stupor. A damaged console sparked at him, and belatedly he realized that he'd hit something. Here was the memory now: his twisting away from the Destroyer, and then a crazed enemy TIE, who had been trying to sit on top of him, couldn't get out of the way before their panels had tapped, flinging the one into the hull of the Destroyer and the other away from the battle.

Thank the Force it hadn't gone the other way around…a very shaky Anakin Skywalker got his still-spinning fighter back under control and heading back, Four shadowing him the rest of the way.

And the damage itself was minor - a stabilizer had snapped and blown, nothing a few hours of maintenance couldn't handle - but what had happened out there was nothing short of a nightmare. A nightmare that, as Anakin found out shortly, which was only just beginning to go bad.

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	14. Juuyonban: Number Fourteen

Oh...my! You are all such wonderful people! Thank you all so much for your heartfelt reviews. I think you guys are the reason this chapter got finished quicker than I expected...

And if you have any questions, feel free to ask. I'll be happy to answer them - such as the question of why there are so many '0' in my fic. Basically, I prefer a wider sort of spacing with my fics and the 0 marks are the only ones that don't get ignored when I post the chapters. If someone knows of something less distracting that they'd like me to use instead, please let me know and I'll probably use it.

You guys (plus seeing Ep. III in theaters for a third time) are what makes this fic worth writing. That being said, I personally anticipate an actual long gap between this and the next chapter. I _am_ a pessimist, after all.

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Disclaimer: Yun Daragon does not own Star Wars. Otherwise she'd be called George Lucas.

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(Kudos to anyone who knows this chapter's special theory off the top of their heads!)

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Any mathematician or philosopher worth their glitterstem will tell you that the working principle of the universe is chaos.

In the universe, they would say (and they really would, if you were paying for their fifth glass of wine), the ruling factor is that everything is inherently unstable. It even has a special theory, called, unimaginably enough, Chaos Theory, which basically claims that any chaotic system is doomed to just about destroy itself in its never-ending frenzy of self-correction.

That's not _quite_ true, but it makes a useful starting point.

--

Since chaos is the basic state of the universe, it therefore becomes quite obvious that hyperspace was discovered by two idiots and a moron, that the original concept of the blaster (point, shoot, repeat until object is in smoking little pieces) was developed by a pacifist, and that the Jedi Order was founded by an antisocial backwoods hermit on whatever planet Endor used to be a moon of.

However, even the most chaotic system has some sort of constant, something capable of shuffling all the elements back and forth and keeping everything from imploding. The Force is the universe's juggler. More than that - it's a juggler who always has an extra set of hands.

Idle hands are the prime elements in proper meddling.

--

Reports were piling up from every corner of the New Republic: the Galactic Empire, far from crumbling, was getting stronger. Formally neutral systems on the fringes of the warring governments were being swallowed by the Empire like a bucketful of squirming crunchbugs at a Hutt family reunion. Some Imperials who had defected to the Republic had even panicked and gone _back_.

Whether they were accepted back into the Imperial fold or executed for treason was unknown, but all other former Imperials were being watched closely for any signs of shifting loyalties. None more so than Anakin, though he was largely unaware of it. It was plainly obvious, but he couldn't spare even that much of his attention.

The Dark Side of the Force was on the move.

Like from bubbling, boiling cauldrons of darkness, Dark Side froth was being spewed out of the hidden depths of the galaxy and all over the areas that had so recently been purged of Palpatine's lingering Force-stench. Luke, who had been in the process of scouring the known galaxy for any sign of any remaining Jedi - Anakin did not envy him the task, he'd developed a knack for being deadly thorough in the Purge - had been trying to solve the problem on his end with discouraging results.

All this was, of **course**, the work of the Emperor. Luke had only hesitantly suggested it, whereas Anakin was completely certain.

Dead or not, the old man was back and he was on the warpath. Couldn't mistake that death-cold aura for anything less…for the Dark Side, after all, was the pathway to that which was considered 'unnatural'… But knowing who they faced was almost as bad as not knowing, since Palpatine had planned as craftily as ever for his reappearance and was currently doing _something_ to the Force to hide every trace of his latest lair.

--

Only when the cargo of a long-range transport shuttle haplessly landed in Republic hands did it all make sense.

"The shuttle's navcomp gave coordinates for some planet called 'Myrkyr'," the deck officer was saying as he (young, Coruscanti accent, and not entirely comfortable around Darth Vader from joining the service underage) nervously lead the way towards the shuttle.

"They were, uh, transporting some sort of creatures in, uh, nutrient frames," the boy added hastily, mistaking Anakin's silence for annoyance.

Around them, the _Alderaan_'s hanger deck was as bustling as ever, but there was a conspicuously wide gap around the captured shuttle.

"What of the shuttle's crew?" Anakin asked.

Despite the perfectly calm tone of the vocbox, the deck officer nearly jumped out of his skin.

"…Con-Control sent the-them to be debriefed by Intel-Intelligence," the boy stammered.

The idea of sealing the stammering child's mouth shut with the Force until he stopped stammering rose up from the depths of Anakin's consciousness. Pushing it aside as a childish move at best, Anakin dismissed the officer and, as an afterthought, used the Force to put a hint of confidence and pride in the boy's mind as he was walking away: Darth Vader had treated him like a competent officer. So what if he was young, he was _capable!_

At least it got him marching away faster, leaving Anakin relative privacy to approach the shuttle.

Except that four meters to the hatchway, Anakin found himself not only stopping but backpedaling on instinct. It took a minute for him to place the source of his discomfort as the shuttle itself: it was _dark_. Not dark like the Dark Side, but dark like the inside of a black hole, where the universe compressed itself into a single point of nothingness.

Just like the Destroyer Anakin had almost plowed into, the shuttle was a void in the Force - a thing that could not, SHOULD not be possible. And to find out why, Anakin would have to enter that void.

Taking much longer than he thought he really needed to, Anakin steeled himself to take that one more step which would get him into the area of darkness. Ridiculously, he ended up having to close his eyes and quickly take the step before losing his nerve completely.

--

And it was only the familiar _suck-hiss_ of his respirator that informed him that no, he hadn't just died, although one of the nine Corellian hells **might** feel like this. Anakin's connection to the Force was so profound, the power so much a part of him - _no_ amount of shielding or resistance had ever sufficiently blocked its powers from him **completely** before - that without the Force, it was as if Anakin _himself_ had ceased to _exist_. All that was left was a lump of leather, wrapped around metal, wrapped around tattered remnants of flesh.

It had only be a second - no one had noticed 'Darth Vader's' strange behavior yet - and Anakin hurried into the shuttle, wanting to get this over with so he could rejoin the universe again.

Just as the deck officer had said, inside the cargo area were three animals in nutrient frames. There had been four originally, but a dismantled nutrient frame showed which animal had been taken for dissecting by New Republic Intelligence. Furry, wormy, leggy creatures they were, and not a one paid their baffled observer any heed.

The universe worked in mysterious ways - if these were not specially created or altered to do so, then this was a non-sentient creature who had evolved to push away the Force.

_Why?_

These were clearly no predators, so did other creatures on their homeworld hunt with the Force? That would make this a natural form of camouflage…natural, sick, and disturbing camouflage, just the sort of thing Palpatine would **love** to exploit…

Speak of the devil…approaching one of the frames triggered a concealed holoprojector that had been left as a present. A quick flash of light as the device scanned Anakin's mask, and then a visage he had every reason to loathe coalesced in the air before him. Palpatine's head was smaller than it usually was, due to the small projector. That was almost funny, but the words were the complete opposite.

"Ah," smiled Palpatine, "Greetings, my old _friend_."

'_How sarcastic we are today_,' Anakin mentally noted, '_…A little upset this old friend_ killed _you, are we?_'

"Your treachery was rather unfortunately timed, yes, but the past is the past," Palpatine said, still smiling, as if he had heard Anakin's thoughts.

"Of course I know what you are thinking," the infuriating man added, "Have I not always been there, and listened to your troubles? My _dear_ friend."

'_Get on with it - what do you WANT, old man_,' Anakin mentally huffed, taking care not to speak in case the projector was wired with a transmitter or something.

"My friend, my compatriot, my _dear_ student of the Dark Side," Palpatine purred, "By receiving this message, you clearly must have received my little present. The creatures I have had sent to you are called ysalamiri. As you no doubt have been informed, they naturally block the power of the Force, even the Dark Side. If some are there now, I suppose I shall miss sensing your next reaction…but no matter."

'_...Reaction?_' Anakin wondered.

Much to his further astonishment, Palpatine reached for the hood that mostly concealed his Force-eaten features. The man hadn't gone without it since Master Windu had…but thinking about that made Anakin feel almost nauseous and it was beside the point.

"And please, do tell me, when next we speak," Palpatine was saying, "What **do** you think of my new appearance?"

--

The head Anakin was now staring at was of a twenty-something man, brown haired and black-eyed, only just starting to show signs of wear and tear. **Identical** to a picture Anakin had seen growing up in the Jedi Temple of a young Nabooian man who would one day grow into a Senator, a Supreme Chancellor…and an Emperor.

"Of course, if this is too old for your tastes, my old _friend_, I have some other faces, closer to the age of your _dear_ little children," Palpatine added, flashing teeth in a trained political smile that somehow already knew and relished in the freezing, twisting sensation that used to be Anakin's internal organs.

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	15. Juugoban: Number Fifteen

Okay, maybe it was less than two weeks. All this positive reinforcement...I'm swatting writing bugs left and right here!

Sorry if this chapter seems a little short despite that.

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Note to Sarisb: Thank you for the review. However, for next time you might want to pay a little more attention to the subject of the fic you're reviewing. If the reason a fic is AU is because a certain character is alive, then its rather obvious that the author/authoress is fully aware that in reality, that character died. But I don't really mind, because you were kind enough to mention it in a nice, courteous manner. Thanks again!

Note to PheonixAshes: Per your question - Ask and yea shall receive...

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Disclaimer: Yun Daragon does not own Star Wars

Claimer: Yun Daragon is the owner/creator of this fic and all original characters than she made up for it

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Obi-Wan had once mentioned an old saying of his master's - of Qui-Gon Jinn's - in passing, during an mission that involved an unpleasant side trip involving exactly ten different varieties of local and transplanted predators. _Why_ anyone would even want to transplant rancors and Redcrested Cougars was anyone's guess.

Maybe because the mess had all been Obi-Wan's fault in the first place - not that Obi-Wan would go so far as to admit that much - the sometimes insufferable Jedi Knight had calmly 'encouraged' some even bigger monsters to chase and eat the ones trying to chase and eat him and his still-then-an-apprentice. Then he'd waved off the following (and completely imaginary) round of applause with the words, "As my master used to say, there's always a bigger fish."

Transplanted _land_ monsters notwithstanding, the only reason Anakin had surreptitiously kept the words in mind was because they were (presumably) Qui-Gon's. The rule of the Imperial Navy had been something closer to 'There's always a bigger idiot', but the basic sense of the idea had always come through for Anakin.

As for whether it was really _appropriate_ to put the threat of a mere Grand Admiral over the threat of a Sith-Lord-who-just-won't-stay-dead, that was all debatable, but it was also completely out of Anakin's hands.

--

In a way, it was almost laughable…Palpatine was playing second-fiddle to one of his subordinates on the galactic scale, but in reality it was only because New Republic Intelligence wouldn't take the word of an ex-Sith Lord under constant military surveillance over the words of their idiotic field agents.

And **that** wondrous opinion was what he got from those incredibly few people who even believed it when Anakin told them the Emperor had returned.

Even then, it took a lot of fast talking and excessive use of Luke's - and sometimes also Leia's, Mon Mothma's, and once even Ackbar's - names to insure that no one could prove the vaguely ridiculous theory that 'Darth Vader' was thinking of going back to his - to **the** Emperor.

Which he _wasn't_, for the record.

As for the surveillance…even when he was left alone, in the privacy of his quarters, Anakin could swear he felt angry and suspicious eyes fixed on him, although no one ever seemed to be actually spying. Outside his quarters, Anakin threw himself into his duties in order to push such unsettling sensations out of his conscious mind. Naturally, this was the worst possible way to deal with things.

--

To fully understand how it went as far as that meant, one needs must take a moment to truly consider the nature of the conscious mind.

It is sometimes thought of as a gift of the Force, especially for Jedi. The mind itself is a phenomenally amazing construct, and each mind is utterly unique, capable of observing the exact same event and coming to completely _different_ conclusions every time.

Jedi are no exception to this.

For them, and indeed for anyone with the right circumstances or training, the mind is both a comfort and a tool, both a shield and a savior. It can shatter into a thousand pieces at a word, and reform into an unbreakable force of nature at another.

A mind is - at the very same time - both a fierce, deadly enemy and a true, steadfast friend. It can be forged into the perfect weapon, or it can be beaten into dull uselessness, all by itself.

--

A mind can also change.

This sort of changing produces as many different minds - one right after another and all firm believers in the delusion that they are the true original mind - as many times as circumstances demand of it.

--

Sometimes the circumstances will demand that a mind needs to change into _more than one mind at the same time._

With the limitless power of the Force powering it on, this last scenario usually tends to become just a **little** more realistic.

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	16. Juurokuban: Number Sixteen

Wow, you all are so nice, thank you so much for your reviews!

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To all confused by the last chapter: I posted an explanation on my bio, so if you haven't seen it yet and are still confused you should probably check it out.

To Sunny: I can understand how you might have not spotted it, but it's sort of both. Anakin's lungs were so damaged (from various causes) that the Re-Gen is taking a while. So while his lungs and such are still healing, Anakin is confined to the suit. Thats why people still call him Lord Vader and not something along the lines of '_Holy cheese what happened to you?!_'

Remember the Re-Gen, people, it's a plot point for a reason..

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Disclaimer: I do not own Star Wars

Claimer: I own this fic, this plot, and all made-up characters I invented

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Anakin started hearing the other voice about a month later.

It had _been_ there a lot longer than that, but he hadn't had time to notice before. Apparently he'd been mistaken to think that a mere Grand Admiral was less of a threat than Palpatine. Actually, a _mere_ Grand Admiral _was_ less of a threat, but Grand Admiral Thrawn had never been a 'mere' **anything** - not even before his entrance into the Imperial Navy. An honest mistake, to assume the overly-capable Chiss hadn't been recalled from his sham 'banishment' from the Empire.

Thrawn was a dangerous opponent. Anakin had never dealt with him personally enough to understand how Thrawn did it, but the way the most assuredly non-Force sensitive Grand Admiral defeated his foes was positively _eerie_.

Naturally, the top New Republic forces had been on the front-lines for weeks on end, fighting grueling battles for every last meter of territory the Empire had absorbed. Anakin's Krayt Squadron was no exception. He'd already lost three pilots: one was only to collapse from being overworked, but the other two had experienced misplaced turbolaser bolts.

Even with the Force as his ally, Anakin felt frustratingly older and more tired after every engagement, even the victorious ones - and those were getting to be few and far between.

--

Word from Coruscant hardly helped. The citizens of the New Republic were nearly up in arms against their own leadership, blaming them for not being able to handle this crisis.

On the other hand, Leia was pregnant.

--

She'd gone out of her way and commed him herself with the news…although it might just have been because Luke wasn't around to do it for her…and had even made certain that Captain Solo - the _real_ reason she'd married that no-good, scruffy smuggler had been to keep him around to practice screaming matches with, Anakin told himself - was out at the time of the call. Solo didn't need reminding of how much he still disliked his father-in-law.

"The medical staff have informed me that I'm carrying twins," Leia had mentioned, looking the very picture of impending motherhood with her already-swelling stomach.

"_Congratulations_, Councilor!" Anakin told her, managing to get some of the pleased astonishment he was feeling into the tone of the suit's vocbox.

"Twins must run in the family - I thought Han's eyes were going to fall right out of his head when I told him," Leia added, looking slightly annoyed, "And then he said, 'So **that's** why you're swelling up like a helium balloon!'"

"As a matter of fact, Councilor," Anakin replied, both of them fully aware this transmission wasn't encrypted enough to act as if they were related, "I know for a fact that neither of your birth parents discovered they were going to have twins until day the birth - births - occurred."

"A _Jedi_ didn't bother to use the Force to see if his wife was having more than one baby?" Leia looked skeptical.

"…He wanted to be surprised," Anakin admitted, feeling completely embarrassed, "Um…I think…they might have had a wager going on it…"

Leia looked like she didn't know whether to scream at him or laugh her head off.

"…Han complained about **that** too," she finally settled for muttering.

--

A few more pleasantries, a relayed message from Luke about some strange shipments or some-such thing he was tracking - a faint warning tingle tickled the back of Anakin's neck, but it faded so swiftly he'd thought he imagined it - and the transmission ended, leaving Anakin feeling more that a little pleased with himself. The prospect of being a grandfather felt almost more exciting than the idea of being just a regular old father.

_/Not that you ever had any skill at being one of **those**/_ something hissed in the back of his mind.

...What?

Anakin froze in mid-turn.

He was the only one in the comm station this time of ship's night…even so he looked around again and found that yes, he was alone.

_/My, you **are** pathetic. Sift every grain of sand in the universe and you'll still never find me __**out there**./_

"Who are you?" Anakin muttered, turning his mental gaze inwards with a sickening feeling, "…Palpatine?"

_/No./_

A pause.

_/A decade ago, though, you'd be right. __**Remember, Skywalker?**/_

It felt like someone had opened a tap in his head. And what came pouring out was a memory, or rather a series of fragments from different memories about the same thing:

_The knowledge that his turning to the Dark Side had caused him to 'kill' his wife made Darth Vader an unsuitably unstable apprentice. In order to keep the young Sith from destroying himself - or even worse, turning on him - Palpatine had enhanced the linking influence he'd used on Anakin Skywalker to create a terribly powerful Force connection._

_For those first years, Darth Vader's every thought and every emotion had been constantly exposed, and not even an instant escaped Palpatine's ruthless inspection. Any attempts by Anakin/Vader to resist the connection or block Palpatine's all-piercing gaze had been…punished. Severely punished. The desire to make further attempts hadn't lasted long._

_The old man had overseen every detail of every mission the younger had lead, and had carefully 'tweaked' Anakin's memory to insure that Vader would never be able to release his sense of hatred, never be able to free himself from the Dark Side._

…And it had been the residue of this unnatural connection that had surfaced as the shadowy horror Anakin had detected in his mind at Cloud City.

"…I remember," Anakin said, "But if you're not Palpatine, who are you?"

_/…Are you quite certain you want to be seen talking to yourself like this?/_ the voice offered instead.

It had a point…Anakin was already in the corridors, heading for his quarters, when a sudden, shocking realization brought him to a halt.

_/Who are you?/_ Anakin demanded, this time projecting his thoughts towards the 'place' he thought the voice was coming from.

_/…You already know/_ the voice coolly informed him_, /You just want me to say it for you, **Skywalker**./_

_/…__Vader…/_ Anakin gasped.

The voice waited a moment for Anakin to regain control over his heart attack before calmly stating _/Correct./_

_/But - that's _impossible!_/_ Anakin stammered.

_/Search your feelings... Impossible? Not for the Force/_ Vader replied - his 'voice' was deeper, though not as deep as the suit's, than Anakin's mental voice was, _/Not for a Master. **Especially** not for Palpatine./_

_/You brought up those years on purpose!/_ Anakin exclaimed, now completely focused on this internal dialogue.

_/Of __**course**/_ Vader answered, sounding smug, _/What do **you** remember clearly after that point, Skywalker? That was when I was 'born', and I was such a model Sith that Palpatine even broke the link./_

_/If you were such a model Sith, how did I regain control in time to slay your Master?/_ Anakin shot back.

_/The way of the Sith is the rule of two. When an apprentice destroys his master, he becomes the master and may then seek out an apprentice of his own/_ Vader recited.

_/Except that __I still have control/_ Anakin growled at him, _/The Force is with _ME_./_

_/The Force is with **US**/_ Vader corrected, _/But soon, there will be no 'us'./_

_/At least we agree on that much/_ Anakin said, mentally readying himself for a fight.

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	17. Juushichiban: Number Seventeen

Interested you, I have, yes?

Excellent! I was worried about using this idea, but now I'm glad I decided to go for it.

Only a slight warning for this chapter: Anakin is going to be acting like Anakin in this chapter. And though I expect most of you don't understand what I mean by that (don't worry, you don't have to) those of you who do are already shuddering.

Have fun!

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Disclaimer: Star Wars is not mine.

Claimer: I invented this plotline and the not-wooden dialogue! (inside joke)

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At least there wasn't a space battle to distract them during the next couple of days.

Vader turned out to be unusually cautious and surprisingly patient in his takeover attempts. The end results were long periods of watching and waiting and sometimes lively arguments, interspersed with sudden and positively **violent** attacks that clawed at Anakin's shields, searching for any weak point with the ferocity of a mad animal.

By the end of things, Vader had apparently resigned himself to waiting for the right moment to take control. Of course, Anakin and Vader both knew that if Luke or anyone else Force-sensitive detected Vader's presence overshadowing Anakin's, there was very little chance that the Sith would be able to defend himself for long at half-power - especially since Anakin planned to take full advantage of any such situation. At the same time, Anakin had to resign himself to keeping this problem as quiet as he could.

Thanks to the unusual nature of the situation, he couldn't exactly go around and warn people of the danger in their midst. 'Anakin Skywalker' didn't officially exist outside of New Republic High Command, and no one would believe 'Darth Vader' if he explained the situation - hells, it would be worse if people DID!

In this way, a temporarily balance was achieved - right on time for another space battle. Miraculously, Anakin and Vader (the latter quite grudgingly) managed to agree to work together during the battle itself.

--

_/Break to port, **now**!/_

Anakin paused in attempting to pin down and vaporize a particularly annoying TIE pilot to barrel-roll to the left. An ion blast brushed past his fighter, hitting the TIE in question and two others veering through the fray.

"Attention all fighters," Fighter Control announced several seconds later, "The enemy capital ships are firing their ion cannons. Beware of stray ion blasts…"

_/If I'd know asking you to keep an eye out would make you so helpful I'd have done it so much sooner/_ Anakin pushed towards Vader as he vaped the trio of now-helpless TIE fighters.

_/Don't get too comfortable. I can hardly reclaim my body if you get it blown to pieces/_ Vader shot back - being forced to help Anakin out seemed to be putting him in a worse mood than usual.

_/It's already IN pieces/_ Anakin retaliated - this had proven a sore spot for Vader in their previous arguments.

It was amusing to sense how Vader's rage peaked at that, as well as sensing how Vader struggled to tamp down that rage for later. Even if his takeover would take only a second's time, a single second was more than enough time for a laser blast to render the argument completely moot. It was almost enough to make one wish the battle would go on forever.

ONLY almost. Another of his pilots - a newer one, Tekk the Rodian - hadn't even made it through _this_ much of the fighting. A brave, living, intelligent person, and he'd died in a losing battle for a dead system with only minimal strategic value in the greater war.

It was completely insane. All madness - madness and anarchy! This was Clone Wars all over again, but with almost no Jedi and probably no clones - as Kamino had long since been conquered and 'pacified' to keep anyone else from getting their hands on a clone army. That had happened early in the days of the Empire, but that was no guarantee of anything since it had been done on Palpatine's orders by someone other than Anakin - other than Vader.

_/No, it isn't a guarantee at all/_ Vader agreed, picking up on Anakin's train of thought.

_/Stop reading my thoughts and leave me _alone_/_ the Jedi growled back in annoyance.

_/Oh? You honestly expect me to curl up quietly in the back of our mind and **suffocate** without putting up a fight?/_

Anakin bristled at the very thought of the word 'suffocate' and shot back as cruel a response as he could think up without pausing to consider what consequences he might unleash.

_/Why not? The first thing _you'd_ do if you had control would be to crawl back to Palpatine's feet with your tail between your legs like a _good_ little lapnerf./_

Out of all the responses the Jedi expected, the last thing he'd dreamed of was what he got: Vader's silence. For the rest of the battle - all of fifteen minutes - and for a good long while afterwards, Anakin only felt Vader's presence, but heard nothing. Apparently he'd hit a nerve and now the Sith was planning to sulk.

A tentative prod Vader's way revealed nothing except that the Sith was packing shielding that would make a Star Destroyer envious.

--

Not trusting this lull, Anakin eagerly awaited the chance to find someone he could trust to help him figure out what to do about this. Anakin himself would gladly be the first to say that the last thing anyone needed would be a powerful but mentally unstable Jedi.

Alas, if only such a chance had been given the opportunity to occur!

When the convoy Saber Squadron had been diverted to guard on its latest mission fell out of hyperspace ahead of schedule, Anakin had been disturbed but not completely alarmed. It was only when the engines blew themselves out for no reason on the ship his cabin was currently located on that Anakin knew there was serious trouble afoot. And when he spotted his first glimpse of stormtrooper armor, Anakin had a sinking feeling in his stomach about why they were here.

A stunbolt from behind put a temporary end to all of Anakin's concerns. Though it had only been a glancing hit, that had been more than enough to leave him unable to move as the troopers approached.

The question of 'How did they sneak up on me' was answered as soon as the man with the ysalamiri got close. The second the Force-void bubble slid over him, Anakin groggily began to do the only thing he could do, what with his body as unresponsive as it still was - panic.

--

That panic was cut off almost instantly as Vader's presence - inside of their own mind, they could feel each other clearly even without the Force - swept over Anakin's like a freezing ocean wave to take control.

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	18. Juuhachiban: Number Eighteen

Thank you all for your wonderful support of my fic, and especially for your patience in waiting for this new chapter.

I hope you will not be disappointed.

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Disclaimer: Star Wars not owned here

Claimer: Plot and idea are mine

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It _must_ have been an after-effect of the stunbolt. Anakin couldn't believe what he was witnessing otherwise. But since all he could do now was watch, Anakin continued watching as Vader pushed their body to its feet, going slowly so as not to set off one of the watching - and armed - troopers.

Facing the leader, Vader considered him for a moment before speaking.

"Well, you have found me," Vader said, "What have you been ordered to do with me now?"

"L- Ah, ahem…**Darth** Vader," the commanding stormtrooper said (he'd automatically tried to say 'Lord Vader', did that mean what Anakin thought it meant?), "Our orders are to arrest you as a traitor to the Galactic Empire and bring you to justice. If you resist arrest, we have been authorized to destroy you and all ships accompanying you, as well as their occupants."

"I see," Vader said, sounding thoughtful - Vader? Thoughtful? What was he planning?

"I will go with you willingly," Vader said next, "Provided that all Imperial forces in this sector leave this convoy alone and intact to make repairs and allow it to continue on its way unmolested."

"Of course," the stormtrooper said, sounding relieved, "Come this way now."

--

_/What are you DOING!/_ Anakin yelled as Vader obediently walked with the stormtroopers.

_/The same thing **YOU** would have done in this situation, were you capable of performing without my help/_ Vader replied, sounding unexpectedly less elated than Anakin would have thought him to be in this situation. _/I have sacrificed myself to the enemy in order to let everyone else escape./_

_/I could have done that without your 'help'/_ Anakin retorted, straining against Vader's control with a disturbing lack of success.

_/You feebleminded **idiot**. Without the Force, you are the MOST helpless person I have ever met/_ Vader pointed out. _/And you DO know who we're being taken to, don't you?/_

_/How could I _forget_?/_ Anakin hissed.

_/Palpatine will want to turn 'us' away from the Republic and 'back' to the Dark Side/_ Vader continued unnecessarily.

_/Tell me something I _don't_ know/_ Anakin snapped.

Vader paused to let loose a soft mental snarl. Then he stated the blunt truth - one of their few shared traits.

_/When he senses that you exist separately from me, he'll rip you out and if you're __**lucky** he will merely __**kill** you./_

Now THAT was something that hadn't occurred to Anakin just yet. It wasn't something you really prepared for, either - but it was most definitely what would happen. You didn't lick the boots of a sadist for twenty years without getting familiar with some of his personal habits, after all.

_/So what?/_ Anakin finally retorted, his tone carefully neutral, _/At least I'll be free. And you'll even have what you wanted - this body and whatever else twisted Sith Lords lust after./_

_/So you wouldn't care if Palpatine - twisted Sith Lord that he is - or myself just so happens to 'lust' after your family, is that it?/_ Vader replied, sounding far too amused. _/Especially with how that list is growing **longer** by the **cycle**-/_

Now it was Anakin who raged and clawed for control, trapped and helpless. But while he had needed to concentrate merely to hold up his shields and push Vader back, Vader's shields left him more than free to reach out on his own and pin the thrashing Jedi down, crushing him with suffocating mental force - lack of Force notwithstanding.

And THIS wasn't too unfamiliar a situation either, unfortunately. Anakin didn't stop fighting until Vader's pressure was well past the point of his being able to so much as try.

Half-memories of other futile attempts to surface, all of which resulted in this same exact experience, brushed his mind, along with a single thought saturated with frustration.

'_Why? Why is the Dark Side always _stronger_ than I am?_'

--

It didn't help Anakin in the slightest when, after days of traveling and various changes in ships, his/Vader's escort finally brought them to their final destination.

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	19. Juukuuban: Number Nineteen

Hi, here's my next update...thanks for waiting!

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Disclaimer: Authoress does not own Star Wars or anything else she didn't invent herself

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"It has been quite a long time, my old _friend_," Palpatine sneered as Vader was escorted in to stand before him.

They'd landed on an uncovered landing field on some planet somewhere, but any thoughts Anakin had on trying to identify which of Palpatine's secret hideaways he/they had been brought to had been ultimately thwarted by Vader. Upon reaching low orbit, Vader had purposely smothered Anakin's mind underneath his own, choking off all but the slightest of extraneous sensations. If Vader was listening to someone Anakin could hear, if Vader focused his gaze on someone Anakin could see…how had he ever managed to keep this wellspring of dark power back from control before?

Vader, for his part, did not reply to Palpatine, but instead seemed to be warily studying him. Gauging how powerful he was in his new, cloned body, Anakin figured. Palpatine, for his part, seemed merely amused, which Anakin chose to view as a bad sign. There were no ysalamiri in this part of whichever building they were in, on whatever planet they were on, but Anakin didn't dare try drawing on the Force and letting Palpatine know he was in there.

After a while, Palpatine smiled, openly and widely. It wasn't a nice smile, looking something more like a grimace as it did.

"You have no greetings to say to me? No handshake for a trusted old companion?" Palpatine said, breaking the thick silence, "No bows for your loving master?"

"You ceased to be my master when you died, old man," Vader replied.

"Did I _really?_" Palpatine said in a low, dangerous tone of voice.

'_Stop that - '_a Jedi does not know fear'_ blast it all!_' Anakin snapped at himself when he realized he was mentally shaking at hearing that tone.

Even if it was a **bad** tone…

"When I slew you, I took your place as Master, and as Head of the Sith Order," Vader said, his voice irritatingly and unflappably calm, "Your refusal to join the Force only shows your cowardice, _old man_."

"Words are far sharper and more dangerous than any other weapon," Palpatine sneered, "Not something for mere _novices_ to play with. You would do well to remember that."

"Spoken like a true politician and bureaucrat," Vader replied.

_/Is there some _reason_ you have a death wish?!/_ Anakin hissed at Vader.

_/Fear not, little Jedi. I know exactly what I'm doing/_ Vader murmured back.

Anakin bristled at the insult. Meanwhile, outside of Anakin and Vader's head, the ongoing exchange of nicely-worded arguing and polite insults had faded, and Palpatine and Vader now seemed to be trying some sort of staring contest. From his enforced role as an observer, Anakin could tell that Vader was content to sit and wait for his opponent to move against him…but as for Palpatine…

--

Something was wrong. There was an _itch_ in the Force all of a sudden, something that Anakin could detect with ease but that Vader seemed oblivious to, and it was coming from…coming from -

Without thinking, Anakin shoved the sensation he was receiving and everything else he could detect about it towards Vader. The Sith Lord reacted instantly to the information he got from the Jedi Knight without questioning it, and Palpatine staggered back two whole steps as Vader ripped and flung the monarch's questing tendrils of Force-awareness out of their head.

"Did you really think I would allow you to try that a second time, _old man?_" Vader sneered at Palpatine without missing a beat.

Palpatine's gaze was annoyed, and was also slightly confused - had he noticed anything? He'd noticed something, hadn't he? - but the would-be Emperor of the Galaxy only smiled nastily at his former student and summoned more guards.

"I had wondered…but it seems that I must, indeed, take on a new apprentice," Palpatine said as a squad of stormtroopers - some with ysalamiri backpacks - entered the room, "A pity you won't get to see him until after his initiation, but it seems that this is the way things must be, my old _friend_."

Vader allowed himself to be lead away by the stormtroopers without resistance. Sensing Anakin's disbelief at how things had turned out so far, Vader was too busy arguing to resist anyway, even as the Force-less bubbles started to close in around them, cutting off any chance of contact with the Wider World.

--

_/I have a bad feeling about this/_ Anakin grumbled, _/We're getting off too easy and that bastard knows it./_

_/It doesn't matter, and now, for the last time, I DO have a plan, so you can stop whining like an idiot already!/_ Vader snapped.

_/Oh joy, a plan/_ Anakin retorted, _/Now the question is, do I get to hear about this mysterious plan anytime soon?/_

_/Your shielding is too weak to keep it hidden from any probing/_ Vader replied.

_/Then how will I know if it's working or not? Besides a sudden, untimely demise, I mean./_

_/Well, in that case, you're just going to have to trust me/_ Vader said.

This was just ridiculous enough to silence Anakin for a whole minute. Then he let loose a barking noise some people would have mistaken for a laugh. Except that this really wasn't funny.

_/By the _Force_, WHAT could have possible made you think THAT could ever happen? Thanks for the pathetic idea, but I decline./_

_/It's not that simple/_ Vader said - how strange, did he actually sound worried?

_/As you've already proven, Jedi, your overall Force-senses are better than mine, though my overall Force-power is greater than yours./_

Apparently deciding that explanation wasn't so good, Vader mused it over for a bit.

_/You do the sensing and I do the striking/_ Vader finally concluded, _/That means we have to work together or we're not going to make it out of Palpatine's grasp alive when the time comes./_

--

Amazing. Vader **was** worried. Anakin felt a little bit astonished at this discovery…but mostly he felt really irritated. Vader had taken over his body - it WAS his, Anakin had been there first! - had crushed him under the weight of sheer Dark Side power…and NOW Vader was expecting Anakin to gleefully pitch in and help with whatever little scheme he was concocting, the end result of which would undoubtedly be Vader still being in charge and Anakin still being crushed and trapped…

The only question for Anakin was to figure out what to do with this sudden insight - and that was easy enough to answer as well. Anakin erected his mental shields, every barricade he could muster, and pushed himself away from any semblance of interactive consciousness.

--

Before he did that, though, Anakin sent a final parting remark to Vader. It was short and to the point.

_/Then fight blind./_

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	20. Nijuuban: Number Twenty

Aww, you guys are all so sweet! Thank you for all the wonderful reviews!

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Have been editing and adjusting the formatting in my chapters to be more uniform and less mucked up by FFnet's various mutations of my punctuation. I hope it's to everyone's liking, because I don't want to change it again.

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Disclaimer: I do not own Star Wars at all (as far as I know)

Claimer: All this plotline and OCs are belong to me

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Sometime later - there was no way to tell when - the faintest trickles of the outside world began filtering down, teasing Anakin back up towards consciousness. Vader was talking - out loud - to someone who wasn't there.

Disconnected as he was, Anakin could only detect the sound of their mechanically-created voice in their mechanically-enhanced ears.

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"…think you can pin the blame on me, well, you can't…"

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"…and see for yourself, it's completely voluntary as you…"

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"…you really think he'll listen to me now if he didn't…"

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When the voice stopped talking, the little part of Anakin that was reacting to it decided that it was time to go back to sleep. But then something else happened.

_/Wake **UP** already/_ a harsh voice grated, rattling the walls of Anakin's mental fortress, _/You have a visitor over here, **Skywalker**…/_

And even with such unpleasantness, MAYBE waking up would be a good idea after all. And even though he was still going to go back to sleep, the Jedi considered it. Slowly.

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"…told you it wouldn't…"

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"…why would it work any better the twenty-fifth time I…"

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"…talk to him, you're such a great…"

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The voice stopped again, but this time there was only moment's pause, before -

_/Here he is, down this way/_ the harsh voice said, _/For all the good it will do you./_

_/…Father? Can you hear me? Will you say something?/_ someone else wondered.

This was the trigger Anakin had been waiting for. He dropped his shields at once. Vader's presence was overflowing through every sensory range, not to mention it was also murkier than ever but Anakin pushed his senses through it like the Sith Lord wasn't even there. It wasn't like he was trying to speak with **him** anyway, he was trying to reach…

_/…Luke?/_ Anakin sent in the direction of his son's voice.

_/Oh, for your **SON** you'll stop cowering/_ Vader said snidely.

_/Father, are you all right?/_ Luke sent back.

_/That depends/_ Anakin replied, _/What's going on?/_

_/…Basically, we came to rescue you from the Emperor/ _Luke said.

_/Why do I get the feeling that **THAT** was their **ENTIRE** plan?/_ Vader commented to no one.

_/You shut up/_ Anakin snapped at Vader, before turning back towards his son's VERY confused presence and adding, _/Luke, I promise that when I get a chance, I'll explain what's going on./_

_/Actually, I _sort_ of got a sense about this a while back/_ Luke admitted, _/But you - err, _both_ of you - just hold tight, okay? We'll be right there./_

In the distance, a communicator clicked off and Luke's presence pulled away, leaving Anakin behind to face the wrath of an inexplicably cranky Vader.

--

/We moved, didn't we?/ Anakin wondered, after taking a look at what he could see of their surroundings.

Instead of the stern, imposing stone that Palpatine's base on whatever planet they had been taken to had been made of, the walls of this cell - it was most definitely a cell - were the standard confidence-leeching black matte of an Imperial Star Destroyer's brig.

And though the huge bubbles of Force-less space began not too far away, going in all directions and blocking off major sections of the world outside this cell, Anakin had been around spacecraft long enough to know when he was on one, whether he could sense it or not.

Vader, still grumpy, declined to provide Anakin any information, but since the Jedi was still drowsy, it didn't occur to him to get annoyed at that. In fact, what _did_ occur to Anakin was the idea that he could go back to sleep.

Curiosity won out, though, and so instead he reached out, trying to see if he could figure out what was going on.

This was a Star Destroyer after all. Where vital parts of the ship should have been - the bridge, weapons control, and engine room, among others - Anakin only found the bubbles where the Force was blocked.

Reaching out further, Anakin discovered more ships, more Star Destroyers, their vital areas blocked off in the exact same way. He started to worry - they were inside a_ fleet_, how would anyone manage to get through that unscathed? - but diligently kept reaching out, looking for some sign of the big picture…what was this fleet here for? Who was leading it?

--

Anakin found the leader in the most _unpleasant_ way _imaginable_. He found a spot in the Force where the power seemed to _bend_, but there was no reason for it to do that - the bending was occurring in empty space. But when Anakin followed the strange feeling towards its source…he found that this fleet seemed to be inside of some sort of enormous and terrible web.

Wicked, filthy strands wove themselves through the very fabric of the Force, clutching the fleet in its inescapable grasp and reaching out to claim the rest of the galaxy. The center of the web was a pit of darkness, a whirlpool of carefully cultivated pain and misery that sucked the Force itself down, draining its power into a pit of oblivion emptier than a black hole…

Even the slightest mental touch of this web, without any warning or defenses raised, sent a bolt of that painful anguish straight through Anakin's being. The last vestiges of drowsiness were blasted away as his mind recoiled from the awful, vicious presence.

--

_/Ah/_ Vader chuckled, _/I was **wondering** when you were going to sense that./_

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	21. Nijuuichiban: Number TwentyOne

Well, after weeks of stress, writers block, and faulty computer issues, here it is - the next installment of my version of the Star Wars saga!

Is it okay for me to say that? Hmmm...

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Oh well, too late now.

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Disclaimer: I do not own Star Wars

Claimer: I owns whats I created, like the OCs and the plot. And that's just about it.

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_/This is _your_ fault/_ Anakin said.

_/Glad to have you back/_ Vader retorted dryly, _/And by the way, this is actually **YOUR** fault. If we had followed **MY** plan, this would never have had the chance to happen./_

_/Is that a fact?/_ Anakin threw back.

_/Why…yes. As a matter of fact, it most certainly **IS** a fact, little Jedi./_

Running through the billions of responses he wanted to make - something, anything to crush Vader's ego down to the size of a bean, where it belonged - Anakin finally decided that such things could wait for when the circumstances were a little less dire.

_/Well, then, since you're _so_ well-informed/_ Anakin sent, _/You can tell me _exactly_ what's been going on. Where are we, how did we get here, and - wait, how did you manage to contact Luke if we're inside a detention cell? The last time I checked, those weren't hooked up to the Holonet./_

_/Hmmm…I suppose you **might** be able to make yourself useful at **some** point/_ Vader replied, a mental shrug accompanying the thought, _/It seems that what's left of your decrepit old mentor has decided to aim his goals a little **higher** than being absolute master of the galaxy./_

/Is that supposed to be new information? Even I remember his desire to have absolute control over the Dark Side./

_/It seems he's decided to do the Dark Side one better/_ Vader answered, his tone sickeningly cheery, _/From what I can sense, he wants to **BECOME** the Force itself./_

--

Even though control of their body was still out of Anakin's grasp, he still felt immediately and violently nauseated. Well, **that** explained that disgusting network he'd sensed linking the fleet together…but…

_/Is that even _possible_?/_ Anakin wondered.

_/I didn't think so either, but even I can feel what's going on out there/ _Vader said, _/While you were busily cowering away in your little hole, you missed something **very** interesting./_

_/What?/_

_/Hmm. Well…/_

Vader paused. Anakin didn't need the Force to detect the big smirk on Vader's mental face.

_/I'm not going to tell you./_

_/What! Why not?!/_ Anakin protested.

_/I didn't even have to tell you what little I've already said, either/_ Vader continued, _/You might have forgotten, but I am nowhere **NEAR** being one of your little buddies, and I don't have to help you with anything./_

Anakin retorted with the first thing that came to mind.

_/By the love of the Force, will you _PLEASE_ just grow _UP_!/_

_/…And just what, exactly, is **that** supposed to mean, Skywalker?/_ Vader replied.

_/For being some sort of Sith Lord, you seem to act a lot more like a spoiled youngling who isn't getting the sweetstick he wanted/_ Anakin elaborated, _/If you're some part of me, well, then its pretty much a guarantee that you're well into your adult years. Act your age!/_

There was a pregnant pause, one that extended on and on until Anakin realized Vader didn't have any sort of retort. And one wasn't likely to be coming, either - there was almost no way any comeback the other decided on couldn't be used as an example of his immaturity.

'_Great. It looks like the fate of the galaxy depends on a flunked Jedi Knight with a teenaged Sith Lord stuck inside his head. Pity the galaxy_,' Anakin mused, making certain to keep his thoughts actually private.

--

Still, Anakin did need Vader to clue him in on what he had missed. With only minimal mental nudging, Vader grudgingly mentioned that they would need _another_ new replacement for their right arm, seeing as how the insides had been quite easy to cannibalize and rework into an operational commlink.

The Sith Lord's tone indicated that he'd rather be kissing a bantha than be helpful, but apparently Vader was planning on making a effort to be at least remotely useful. To prove he was mature? Or was it just to get a favorable mention to Anakin's son and daughter before they ripped him out and left him to the dear and tender mercies of the void?

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	22. Nijuuniban: Number TwentyTwo

...It's an update! And believe me, I'm just as surprised as you all are to see this.

Oh, and now FFnet is apparently no longer ignoring the /blah/ formating. Why can't the site make up it's mind already? Sheesh...this is such a pain...

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Disclaimer: I do not own Star Wars

Claimer: All the plotline and OCs are belong to me

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Blasters, being very clumsy and inelegant weapons, had two things going for them. The first was that you didn't need to be a Jedi to operate one...to be honest, the minimum requirement wasn't even any sort of intelligent consciousness, it was to have opposable thumbs and (hopefully) basic depth perception of some kind.

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The second and way more obscure thing was that if you listened hard enough, they actually made music.

A bored or tired soldier on the front lines of war often found that an eerie melody was created when blasters exchanged fire. Different blaster makes gave out different pitches, and as long as you weren't standing around like an idiot in the open, it was something that, ironically enough, took your mind off war.

Even Anakin could agree with that...though his varieties of music tended towards engines working at peak performance...but to each his own.

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Which is why it was Vader who was the one that picked up the sound of blaster bolts ricocheting around outside their cell's door first. The Sith Lord mulled over the disturbance, before deciding to keep this information to himself. That was why Anakin was badly startled when the door to their cell spontaneously vaporized.

As soon as the first shock wore off, Anakin growled at hearing the amusement Vader was making no effort whatsoever to conceal. Before he could do anything further, however, a voice from beyond the smoking doorframe interrupted him.

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"Okay, come on out here, whoever you are," came the loud, unmistakably obnoxious voice of one Han Solo.

_/What in the Force is _HE_ doing here?/_

_/Perhaps he's here to blast us?/_ Vader offered.

For some reason the Sith Lord sounded oddly delighted by that idea.

In fact, if Anakin had to pick a single word to describe Vader's current mood, it would have to be something close to 'giddy'. It was confusing and made no sense. Surely, Anakin reasoned, he would have remembered their receiving a head injury?

_/Don't be stupid, / _Vader chided him, still sounding inappropriately pleased with the universe_ /Someone altered the suit filters to not screen out certain mood-altering gases. I suppose Luke wasn't as tractable as the old bastard was hoping him to be./_

_/Ah/_ Anakin murmured _/Well then, Master joy-happy Sith, get up and walk outside before I try to blast you myself./_

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Vader mentally '_harrumphed_', but clumsily rose and began making his way out of the cell. It seemed to take far too much concentration for him to do so - Anakin felt a wave of vindictive satisfaction at the thought. If Vader wanted to be in control of their body so badly, then it was just his own fault he had to go through such things, now wasn't it?

Standing in the corridor waiting for them was Solo, Luke standing right behind the smuggler.

"So, who'm I talking to?" Solo asked conversationally, "Because I promised Leia I would only blast you if you were Vader and not Anakin."

Vader cocked their head quizzically in response, still muddled from whichever of Palpatine's concoctions that had been pumped into their cell. Anakin took the opportunity to reach out and prod his son before Vader said something stupid or provoking.

_/Father? ...Did something happen since we contacted you?/_

_/I think so/_ Anakin replied _/My 'other self' here seems to have been drugged. Please try to keep your brother-in-law from killing us before I can explain everything./_

"He's been _drugged?_" Luke exclaimed aloud.

"Who's been drugged?" Solo blinked.

"Vader's been drugged. Father's still inside, though, so you still probably shouldn't blast him anyway," Luke pointed out.

"And I _can_ still deflect blaster bolts, you know," Vader decided to point out, "I bet I could ricochet one to hit you _right_ between your eyes..."

He sounded extremely light-headed...in a minute, he'd probably start giggling, too. Anakin sighed and began pulling at the Force to try and flush the drugs out of their system. Vader's little high was soon diminished to a vague feeling of good-will towards the universe, which Anakin could already feel the Sith starting to become angry at himself with for feeling.

--

The change in mood must have been noticeable, because Solo immediately commented, "Can I blast him now that he's sobered up?"

"Give me an excuse, smuggler..." Vader growled, starting to raise a hand.

"Would it be possible for this to wait until after we get out of here?" Luke asked, attempting to be the voice of reason.

"...I guess," Solo reluctantly agreed, holstering his blaster.

"How _did_ you intend for us to escape?" Vader asked, sounding vaguely curious about the subject.

Anakin, meanwhile, was tentatively extending his senses outwards. Down at the entrance to the detention block, he could sense his daughter and Solo's Wookie partner keeping watch. ...What was his daughter doing here? Wasn't she still pregnant?

As for the rest of the Destroyer...it seemed off. The minds he was encountering were sluggish and unresponsive. Anakin found himself accidentally absorbing memories that should have been behind even the most basic set of mental shielding - he shook them off, but it was HARD to avoid doing it. The sickening network that Palpatine had spun around the fleet was harder to find than it had been before - it was hazier, the strands not as well defined...and it was spread out farther than it had been before.

Anakin could also sense some more ships inside the bounds of the network, not part of the original fleet of Star Destroyers. The minds inside those ships also felt strange under his light touch, though not as badly off as the crewmen in the Star Destroyers...

_What was going on?_

All this information reached him in the time it took Solo to say, "I don't really know why, but everyone here's acting mighty strange in the head. No one seems to even notice or care that we're not part of the crew -"

_/Where's Palpatine?/_

As both Luke AND Solo turned their gazes his way, Anakin realized that there was another strange thing going on; Solo shouldn't have been able to pick up on that message - it had been aimed solely for Luke alone.

_/You're very loud all of a sudden.../_ Vader pointed out, sounding rather surprised himself _/What did you notice, Jedi?/_

_/You'll find out in a moment, be patient/_ Anakin replied, being careful about aiming his words this time.

--

Apparently, whatever Palpatine had done was effecting mind-to-mind communication in the area.

"...What was that? I'm pretty sure I just heard a voice..." Solo was blinking.

_/Can you both hear me?/_ Anakin sent out cautiously.

"I DID just hear a voice!" Solo exclaimed.

_/Idiot/_ Vader sighed _/And our flesh and blood is related to him now?/_

_/Perhaps if you would let me speak _verbally_.../_ Anakin pointed out.

Much to his surprise, the Sith withdrew himself ever-so-slightly in response. Anakin was able to reach up and speak aloud - and he was never going to take having a voice for granted ever again!

"That was me. Do either of you know where Palpatine is right now?" Anakin asked.

"Father! Are you...?"

"It's only temporary, do **not** get used to it," Vader interjected with a dark tone.

"Only until I find a means to drive you out of my head for good," Anakin shot back as he elbowed his way back into control.

"...That is extremely creepy," Solo pointed out, "And to answer your question, we don't know where the Emperor is right now exactly. We're betting that he's on the flagship -"

Anakin reached out momentarily. Yes, the central void-like area of the network was centered in the biggest Destroyer in the fleet -

"- But seeing how it's a _Super_ Star Destroyer, we decided against attacking it just yet," Solo finished.

"Father, what's going on?" Luke asked.

"You can sense what is happening here, can't you?"

Luke nodded - his unease was undisguised - and Anakin continued, "This is all Palpatine's work. We need to put an end to Palpatine before his reach extends any further."

"How can we do that, though?"

Anakin didn't know what to say - and Vader summarily threw him aside and retook control in that moment of hesitation. Anakin shifted in agitation, but decided against initiating another fight for control just yet.

--

There were more important things worry about at the moment anyway.

--

* * *


End file.
